ABSTRACT
Issues such as marriage and divorce in Jordan come under the jurisdiction of personal status law, which differs based on the confessional identity of the citizen; Muslims have one body of law based on shari‘a,1 and members of other sects have their own laws created by something like a church council; the personal status laws have their own corresponding courts (see Chapter 3). All personal status laws in Jordan are brought into existence through the action of the legislature, but in their nature and their operation these codes are unlike other laws in several important respects. Personal status laws are specific to each recognized religious sect because they serve a perceived need to respect divine law, and they are seen as protecting both the Islamic character of society in general and the religious rights of minorities. Non-Muslims from recognized sects (several sects or denominations of Catholics, Orthodox and Protestant religions as well as Jews)2 have the right to have matters of marriage, divorce and child custody adjudicated by the laws of their religion rather than shari‘a, and the maintenance of a shari‘a-based Muslim personal status code for the vast majority of citizens serves the state’s claim of local cultural authenticity.
