Aims & Scope
Aims
Munakahat: Journal of Islamic Family Law aims to provide a scholarly platform for the development and dissemination of high-quality research in Islamic family law, with particular attention to contemporary legal, social, technological, institutional, and comparative developments affecting Muslim families.
The journal aims to:
- Advance scholarship in Islamic family law through rigorous normative, doctrinal, comparative, socio-legal, empirical, and interdisciplinary research.
- Examine contemporary challenges affecting Muslim families, including developments in marriage, divorce, child protection, inheritance, family governance, family resilience, and the protection of vulnerable family members.
- Promote comparative and cross-jurisdictional research on Islamic family law and its interaction with national legal systems, legal pluralism, and diverse social and cultural contexts.
- Encourage research on Islamic legal reform and the application of Islamic legal principles to emerging issues in contemporary family life.
- Strengthen dialogue between Islamic legal scholarship and contemporary fields of research, including Maqāṣid al-Sharīʿah, human rights, gender justice, digital governance, artificial intelligence, technology, and sustainable family development.
- Foster international scholarly exchange by welcoming contributions from researchers across different countries, jurisdictions, and academic traditions.
Scope
Munakahat welcomes original research addressing, but not limited to, the following areas:
- Marriage and Family Formation
- Islamic marriage law
- Marriage registration
- Marriage contracts
- Interfaith and cross-border marriage
- Polygamy and contemporary marriage regulation
- Premarital and marital rights and responsibilities
- Family formation and changing patterns of Muslim families
- Divorce and Post-Divorce Issues
- Islamic divorce law
- Judicial divorce
- Post-divorce rights and obligations
- Child custody and guardianship
- Maintenance and financial protection
- Gender justice after divorce
- Alternative dispute resolution and family mediation
- Children and Family Protection
- Child protection under Islamic family law
- Children's rights
- Child custody and guardianship
- Digital child protection
- Children's digital identity and privacy
- Protection of vulnerable family members
- Family violence and sexual violence
- Islamic Inheritance and Family Assets
- Islamic inheritance law
- Wills and bequests
- Family property
- Marital assets
- Estate planning
- Inheritance disputes
- Contemporary challenges in Islamic succession law
- Family Governance and Institutional Development
- Family governance
- Family welfare and resilience
- Parenting and intergenerational responsibility
- Elderly care and family responsibility
- Islamic family courts and judicial institutions
- Religious courts and institutional reform
- Family-law administration and governance
- Islamic Legal Reform and Comparative Family Law
- Reform of Islamic family law
- Comparative Islamic family law
- Islamic law and state law
- Legal pluralism
- Transnational and cross-border family law
- Comparative judicial practices
- Family-law legislation in Muslim-majority and Muslim-minority contexts
- Maqāṣid al-Sharīʿah and Islamic Family Law
- Maqāṣid al-Sharīʿah and family law
- Protection of family, children, and vulnerable persons
- Gender justice and Islamic legal reasoning
- Contemporary ijtihād in family law
- Public interest (maṣlaḥah) and family-law reform
- Ethical and normative approaches to contemporary family issues
- Digital Transformation, Technology, and Family Law
- Digital transformation of Islamic family law
- Artificial intelligence and family-law institutions
- Digital evidence in family disputes
- Digital identity and family governance
- Technology and Islamic courts
- Online marriage, divorce, and family-law services
- Data protection and privacy in family-law contexts
- Socio-Legal and Interdisciplinary Studies
- Islamic family law and society
- Family law and cultural change
- Family law and religion
- Family law and human rights
- Gender and family law
- Migration and Muslim families
- Family resilience and social change
- Interdisciplinary approaches to contemporary Muslim family life
- Emerging and Global Challenges
The journal also welcomes research addressing new and emerging challenges that have significant implications for Islamic family law, provided that the connection to Islamic family law is clearly established.
These may include climate change and family resilience, migration, digital society, artificial intelligence, public health, demographic change, globalization, and other emerging issues affecting Muslim families and family-law institutions.
Scholarly and Methodological Orientation
Munakahat welcomes diverse research methodologies appropriate to the research question, including:
- doctrinal and normative legal research;
- comparative legal research;
- socio-legal research;
- empirical and qualitative research;
- quantitative research where appropriate;
- case studies;
- legal and policy analysis;
- historical and jurisprudential studies; and
- interdisciplinary research.
Regardless of methodology, submissions should demonstrate a clear and substantive contribution to the study of Islamic family law.
The journal particularly values research that goes beyond descriptive discussion by presenting original arguments, critical analysis, clear theoretical or conceptual frameworks, and meaningful implications for scholarship, law, policy, or family practice.
Out of Scope
Manuscripts that discuss Islamic studies, Islamic economics, finance, theology, politics, or general social issues without a clear and substantive connection to Islamic family law are outside the primary scope of the journal.
Research involving broader Islamic or interdisciplinary themes may be considered when the manuscript demonstrates a direct and significant contribution to the understanding, development, or application of Islamic family law.
Editorial Position
Munakahat is committed to maintaining a clear disciplinary identity while remaining open to emerging interdisciplinary research. The central criterion for scope is therefore not simply whether a manuscript discusses Islam or Muslim society, but whether Islamic family law constitutes a substantive part of the research question, analysis, and contribution.
