Fiqh al-Nikah wa al-Faraid
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- Fiqh al-Nikah wa al-Faraid
Fiqh al-Nikah wa al-Faraid (The Jurisprudence of Marriage and Inheritance) is a textbook on Islamic family law and the rules of estate division by Dr. Muhammad Abd al-Latif Qandil, a lecturer of Shafi'i jurisprudence in the Department of General Jurisprudence at the Faculty of Islamic and Arabic Studies for Girls in Alexandria, Al-Azhar University.
Background and Purpose
The work originated as university lectures prepared to expound the detailed rulings of Islamic personal status law and inheritance. In the preface, the author underscores that marriage is an innate human institution ordained across divine messages to establish families, connect households, and protect lineages and honour. Because these rulings reflect the elevated status granted to women in Islamic law, Qandil begins the book with a concise historical survey contrasting the condition of women before and after Islam, aiming to reinforce adherence to Islamic teachings.
In this introductory survey, the author examines the subjugation, lack of legal capacity, and mistreatment of women across earlier civilizations and traditions—including the Greeks, Romans, ancient Indians (citing the Laws of Manu), Jews, Christians, Persians, and pre-Islamic Arabs (highlighting practices such as female infanticide)—before presenting how Islam honored women across all stages of life, as daughters, wives, and mothers.
Scope and Content
The core jurisprudence covered in the book is divided across the major topics of Islamic domestic relations and inheritance:
- Marriage (nikah): The contractual prerequisites, including the requirement of a guardian (wali), witnesses, and public announcement.
- Divorce (talaq) and dissolution: Rulings regarding repudiation, redemption initiated by the wife (khul'), and revocation of revocable divorce (raj'ah).
- Post-marital procedures: The prescribed waiting period ('iddah).
- Specific marital oaths and disputes: The vow of continence (ila'), injurious assimilation (zihar), the required legal expiation (kaffarah), and mutual imprecation (li'an).
- Inheritance (fara'id): The legal distribution of estates and prescribed shares under Islamic law.
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