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FAMILY, NATION BUILDING, AND CITIZENSHIP: THE LEGAL REPRESENTATION OF MUSLIM WOMEN IN THE BAN AGAINST THE BIGAMY CLAUSE OF 1951

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 February 2020

Rawia Aburabia
Rawia Aburabia*
Affiliation:
Fellow at the Polonsky Academy for Advanced Study in the Humanities and Social Sciences at the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute
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Abstract

This article focuses on the representations and perceptions of Muslim Palestinian women as encapsulated by early Israeli legislation. The analysis is based on a close reading of the negotiations and discussions leading up to the criminalization of bigamy by the Israeli state and, in particular, those principal discussions surrounding the legislation of the Women's Equal Rights Law of 1951. Primary materials from the Israeli State Archives are used to reconstruct the debates in the Knesset, assess the legislation's intended effects on the Muslim Palestinian family, and trace the opposition to it fielded by the Palestinian religious leadership. The legislative process is dissected to expose the implicit and explicit patriarchal and nationalized underpinnings of the image of the “ideal family” fashioned by Israeli legislators. Despite their national divide, I argue, both the Israeli Knesset and the Muslim community leadership articulated women's roles in similarly distinctive national-patriarchal hues.

Keywords

Muslim womenfamily lawbigamycitizenshipnation buildingIsraelPalestine
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Law and Religion , Volume 34 , Issue 3 , December 2019 , pp. 310 - 331
Copyright
Copyright © Center for the Study of Law and Religion at Emory University 2020

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References

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19 Biannual report by the Department of Muslim and Druze Affairs, January 31, 1949, Ministry of Religious Affairs, file no. 304/42, Israeli State Archive. Unless otherwise noted, all translation from the Hebrew are mine.

20 Biannual report by the Department of Muslim and Druze Affairs, January 31, 1949.

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28 For the purpose of this article, the two sides of the debate presented are the Israeli Zionist legislators and the Palestinian/Muslim voices. The analysis does not suggest that the nationalist/patriarchal arguments are the only possible explanation. However, because the analysis is based on archival work that focuses mainly on the process of legislation, it is beyond the scope of this article to present other possible explanations based on other archival materials.

29 Women's Equal Rights Law of 1951 (May 9, 1951): 191 (proposed legislation), Ministry of Religious Affairs, file no. 2374/8, Israeli State Archive [hereafter Women's Equal Rights Law, Proposed Legislation].

30 Women's Equal Rights Law, Proposed Legislation.

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36 See Women's Equal Rights Law of 1951 (June 27, 1951) (first reading) [hereafter Women's Equal Rights Law, First Reading].

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54 See Women's Equal Rights Law, First Reading.

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56 See Women's Equal Rights Law, First Reading.

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67 An Israeli politician, Yaakov Klivnov served as a member of the Knesset for the General Zionists (1949–1959).

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69 See Women's Equal Rights Law, Second and Third Readings.

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71 See Women's Equal Rights Law, Second and Third Readings.

72 See Women's Equal Rights Law, Second and Third Readings.

73 Letter from shari'a court judges Musa Tabari, Taher Hamed, and Hasan Amin Habash and representatives of the Muslim Community to the prime minister, July 7, 1951, Ministry of Religious Affairs, file no. 2374/8, Israeli State Archive.

74 Letter from shari'a court judges.

75 Letter from Taher Hamad, the qadi of Yafa's sharia court, to the head of the Muslim and Druze Department at the Ministry of Religion, January 21, 1952, Ministry of Religious Affairs, file no. 2374/8, Israeli State Archive.

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80 Letter from mukhtar and imam of Kabul to the Ministry of Religion, July 25, 1951, Ministry of Religious Affairs, file no. 2374/8, Israeli State Archive.

81 Letter from the Advisory Committee for Muslim Affairs in Haifa to the Ministry of Religion, July 25, 1951, Ministry of Religious Affairs, file no. 2374/8, Israeli State Archive.

82 Letter from mukhtar and imam of Tamra to the Ministry of Religion, July 25, 1951, Ministry of Religious Affairs, file no. 2374/8, Israeli State Archive.

83 Letter from Amin Kasem, the imam of the Muslims in Haifa, to the Muslim and Druze Department at the Ministry of Religion, July 21, 1951, Ministry of Religious Affairs, file no. 2374/8, Israeli State Archive.

84 Comments on the Women's Equal Rights Law Proposal by shari'a court judges Musa Tabari, Taher Hamed, Hasan Amin Habash, July 17, 1951, Ministry of Religious Affairs, file no. 2374/8, Israeli State Archive.

85 Letter from qadis of the Sharia court in Acre to the head of the Muslim and Druze Department at the Ministry of Religion, April 19, 1952, Ministry of Religious Affairs, file no. 2374/8, Israeli State Archive.

86 “And if you fear that you will not deal justly with the orphan girls, then marry those that please you of [other] women, two or three or four. But if you fear that you will not be just, then [marry only] one or those your right hand possesses. That is more suitable that you may not incline [to injustice]. Al-Qur'an, Al-Nisa [The women], accessed February 20, 2017, https://quran.com/4:3 (brackets original to source).

87 Petition from the mukhtars (heads of the villages) and representatives of the Muslim villages in the Acre district to the head of the Muslim and Druze Department at the Ministry of Religion, April 3, 1952, Ministry of Religious Affairs, file no. 2374/8, Israeli State Archive.

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89 Letter from the head of the Muslim and Druze Department at the Ministry of Religion to the minister of religion, March 6, 1952, Ministry of Religious Affairs, file no. 2374/8, Israeli State Archive.

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97 Letter from the attorney general to the head of the Muslim and Druze Department at the Ministry of Religion, March 16, 1952, Ministry of Religious Affairs, file no. 2374/8, Israeli State Archive.

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