The Islamic Juridical Vacuum : An Ethnographic Study of How Parallel Legal Institutions Emerged in Denmark

Abstract

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.