The Islamic Juridical Vacuum

An Ethnographic Study of How Parallel Legal Institutions Emerged in Denmark

Series: 

Author:
Jesper Petersen
Based on seven years of ethnographic fieldwork in Denmark this study investigates how Islamic legal processes work before and after the emergence of Islamic divorce councils around 2021. The author begins by laying out a new methodology for the study of sharia, which leads him to several surprising conclusions. The study for example demonstrates that Islamic legal practices constitute an integrated part of how the Danish welfare state operates, that female Muslim leaders play important roles in Islamic divorce processes, and that the demand for Islamic divorce councils is generated as a byproduct of Muslim women’s agency.
Copyright Year:
2025
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Published
ISBN:
978-90-04-70026-0
Publication:
24 Feb 2025
Hardback
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Published
ISBN:
978-90-04-70025-3
Publication:
27 Feb 2025
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About MyBook
Jesper Petersen, PhD (2020), is associate professor of history of religion specialized in Islamic studies and Starting Grant research leader on the Non-Muslim Islam project at Copenhagen University, funded by Independent Research Fund Denmark.
Contents
Acknowledgements
List of Figures and Tables

Introduction
 1 The Aim of This Book
 2 Denmark as a Single Case Study of a European Phenomenon
 3 An Initially Unplanned Study
 4 On Triangulation
 5 Ethical Considerations
 6 Primer on Islamic Legal Terminology
 7 Remarks on Language

Part 1: The Theory of the Islamic Juridical Vacuum


1 Epistemology and Methodology in the Study of Sharia
 1 Finding the Object of Study and Asking a Research Question
 2 Non-Muslims’ Experiencing nikah Captivity
 3 The Deferred Nature of an Islamic Juridical Performance
 4 Levels and Location of Sharia Production
 5 Islamic Semiotic Resources
 6 Discursivity
 7 Emotions
 8 The Operationalization of the Epistemological and Methodological Standpoint

2 The Islamic Juridical Vacuum and the Welfare State
 1 Absence and Presence
 2 Emergence and Collapse of Presences in the Vacuum
 3 Demand Projected on to Researchers
 4 Responding to Demand as a Representative of the Welfare State
 5 The Epistemic Ceiling
 6 The Epistemic Community of Presence
 7 A Field Structured by Demand

3 Substructures of the Demand
 1 Historical Roots of the Vacuum
 2 Making Islamic Divorce Rules in Diaspora
 3 Islamized Coercive Control
 4 Islamized Post-separation Violence
 5 Honor
 6 Arranged and Forced nikah
 7 Honor-Motivated Control
 8 Getting Closure and the Religious Dimension
 9 A Vacuum Generated by Women’s Agency

Part 2: The Dynamics of the Islamic Juridical Vacuum


4 Women’s Networks and Female Leaders
 1 Women’s Networks from the Perspective of Male Muslim Leaders
 2 A Processual Perspective on Amina’s and Nabila’s Practice
 3 The Significance of Family Support
 4 Experiences with Male Muslim Leaders
 5 Polygamy
 6 A High Demand Uncatered For
 7 Conclusion

5 Islamic Legal Practices in the Islamic Juridical Vacuum
 1 Becoming a qadi or Mediator
 2 A Dangerous Pose
 3 Editing Divorce Documents and Adopting the Pose of qadi
 4 Demand Co-produces the Rules
 5 Oscillating Presences
 6 Geography of the Vacuum
 7 Erasing Islamic Juridical Performances
 8 Conclusion

6 Political Strategies against Parallel Legal Orders
 1 The Episteme above and below the Ceiling
 2 Taking Meaningful Political Action above the Epistemic Ceiling
 3 Navigating below the Epistemic Ceiling
 4 The Problem of nikah Captivity Unresolved

Part 3: The Institutionalization of Islamic Divorce Councils


7 Until Death Separates Us
 1 The Formulation of an Islamic Divorce Template
 2 Until Death Separates Us
 3 The Practical Details of Islamic Divorce in the Mariam Mosque
 4 Khankan’s Method
 5 Women’s Experience of Agency
 6 Men’s and Families’ Responses
 7 Security Issues
 8 Conclusion

8 The Islamic Divorce Council
 1 The Emergence and Collapse of Islamic Divorce Councils
 2 Planning a Presence
 3 The Effect of a Stable Presence

9 The Imam Ali Mosque
 1 The marja System
 2 Shia Islamic Divorce in the Field of Presence
 3 Shia Islamic Divorce in the Field of Absence
 4 Transnational Presence

Conclusion
 1 The Vacuum Theory in Condensed Form
 2 Khidir
 3 Hidden in Plain Sight

Epilogue
Bibliography
This book caters to practitioners as well as academics, primarily within Islamic studies, law, political science, and migration studies. The book is suitable for both graduate and post-graduate students.
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