ABSTRACT
Perhaps no other topic in Islamic law has drawn such attention in the West as that of the purported low status of women in Muslim law and society alike. The Muslim woman is stereotyped as docile, passive and subjugated by men and Islamic institutions themselves. A number of negative stereotypes held in the West center around misleading notions regarding the status of women in Islamic law, most striking among these is a certain perceived lack of rights in marriage, divorce, and other areas of the personal status law. While it is true that Islam developed in a patrilineal and stratified social system, it, by no means, holds a monopoly on such systems nor is it more harshly patriarchal than Christianity, Judaism or other of the great world religions. Islamic law itself has been viewed as rigid and doctrinaire, immutable and unbending, even though its application has always occurred within the context of specific societies with distinct histories.
