ABSTRACT
Bangladesh’s personal status laws continued to be the legislation enacted by Pakistan prior to Bangladeshi independence. The Hanafi school is the predominant madhhab in Bangladesh. The legal status of Muslim women in Bangladesh is defined by the Muslim personal law along with the general law, which is secular in nature. The Muslim personal law covers the areas of marriage, divorce, maintenance, guardianship of children and inheritance. The general law deals with rights under the constitution, penal codes, the civil and criminal procedure codes, evidence act, etc. (Kamal, n.d.). The substantive equality approach recognizes differences (Wentholt, 1999, p. 55) and in the areas of marriage, divorce, maintenance, guardianship of children and inheritance in Bangladesh, Muslim family law is mostly based on this approach.
