WUNRN
Interfaith
Encounter Association - Women's Interfaith Encounter
Muslim, Christian, Druze
and Jewish women study together topics of relevance to women from the
perspective of the different religions. Interfaith study is used as a vehicle
not only for understanding, acceptance and respect for the other, but as a way
to deepen awareness of one's own religion.
November
12, 2009
ADAMA (Abu Dis and Maaleh Adumim) met in Abu Dis on
November 12. The recent article about
our group in the Jerusalem Post newspaper had generated much interest and,
therefore, we had doubled in size. Many
more people from Maaleh Adumim felt safe enough to make the trip into Abu Dis,
where Abed hosted us in his home. We
also had a fair number of Christian participants, mostly from the
The theme of this month's meeting was Family Law.
Palestine is
governed by Jordanian law, which also includes religious Islamic law regarding
family matters. For example, marriage is
not done in civil courts, rather by Islamic law. Islam allows women to put conditions in the
marriage contract, for example, stating that she is continuing her
education. Because marriage is governed
by Islamic law, a woman cannot put in her marriage contract that her husband
may not marry another woman.
For the crime of stealing, four witnesses are needed, if
witnesses are women, then eight women are necessary.
This contrasts with Judaism, which only allows men to be
witnesses in religious law.
We discussed cultural crimes such as honor killings,
which the Koran strictly forbids.
Inheritance laws state that after the death of parents,
the son will take twice as much as the daughters. Parents cannot leave a Will under Islamic
law. If the husband dies, the wife
receives 1/8th of her husband's estate, and if there are no parents
then the wife takes 1/4 of her husband's estate.
So too, in
In Islam, too, only a man can divorce his wife and not
vice-versa.
The Christians said that Christians can have religious
courts for divorce, adoption, inheritance and marriage.
Report by Leah Lublin – Jewish Coordinator
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