TY - JOUR
T1 - When men get no share
T2 - Matrilineal Muslims and their laws of succession
AU - Kooria, Mahmood
N1 - Funding Information:
Earlier versions of this article were presented at the Research Seminar of the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity, Göttingen; at the Transregional Research Junior Scholar Fellows Workshop of the Social Science Research Council (SSRC) in Berlin; and at the Indian Ocean Conference in Georgetown University in Doha. For their feedback and support, I am grateful to the participants in these events, as well as to Engseng Ho, Dilip Menon, Salah Punathil, Sohaira Siddiqui, Peter van der Veer, two reviewers and the editorial board of CSSAAME, and all the interlocutors discussed in this article. The research was enabled by financial support from the InterAsia Program of the SSRC, “Understanding Sharia: Past Perfect Imperfect Present” (USPPIP) of the Humanities in the European Research Area (HERA), and the Veni grant (VI.Veni.191H.005) of the Dutch Research Council (NWO).
PY - 2023/8/1
Y1 - 2023/8/1
N2 - In matrilineal societies, women had more status, power, and property than men. Most scholars of Islam believed that matrilineal cultures were against the ethos of the religion, which is patrilineal, patrilocal, and patriarchal. But millions of Muslims across the Indian Ocean littoral have been following matriliny for several centuries. It was also one of the most convenient ways to engage in Indian Ocean trade: men could voyage as merchants, sailors, and itinerants, while women stayed on land with the property and controlled households and wider social spheres. This economic and social stability gave women an upper hand in economic and personal choices, and within marriages, they could and did move about freely. The matrilineal system not only connected maritime Muslims but also raised serious questions about the Islamic jurisprudential tradition that evolved in the Middle East through its peculiar practices of ownership of property, kinship, and marital norms. From the late eighteenth century onward, the system has been subjected to significant internal and external criticisms. These especially targeted inheritance-related customs where men got no share in the property. With a special focus on debates over inheritance laws, this article explores the transregional and transtemporal ways in which matrilineal Muslims defended the system within Islamic legal epistemologies and maritime social systems.
AB - In matrilineal societies, women had more status, power, and property than men. Most scholars of Islam believed that matrilineal cultures were against the ethos of the religion, which is patrilineal, patrilocal, and patriarchal. But millions of Muslims across the Indian Ocean littoral have been following matriliny for several centuries. It was also one of the most convenient ways to engage in Indian Ocean trade: men could voyage as merchants, sailors, and itinerants, while women stayed on land with the property and controlled households and wider social spheres. This economic and social stability gave women an upper hand in economic and personal choices, and within marriages, they could and did move about freely. The matrilineal system not only connected maritime Muslims but also raised serious questions about the Islamic jurisprudential tradition that evolved in the Middle East through its peculiar practices of ownership of property, kinship, and marital norms. From the late eighteenth century onward, the system has been subjected to significant internal and external criticisms. These especially targeted inheritance-related customs where men got no share in the property. With a special focus on debates over inheritance laws, this article explores the transregional and transtemporal ways in which matrilineal Muslims defended the system within Islamic legal epistemologies and maritime social systems.
KW - Indian Ocean
KW - inheritance
KW - Islamic law
KW - matriliny
KW - transregionality
KW - transtemporality
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85168096389&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1215/1089201X-10615635
DO - 10.1215/1089201X-10615635
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85168096389
SN - 1089-201X
VL - 43
SP - 163
EP - 175
JO - Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East
JF - Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East
IS - 2
ER -