The area of personal law is often considered to be the main bastion of Islamic law. One reason for this is that the Qurʾān devotes greater attention to subjects such as marriage, divorce, and inheritance than it does to any other legal topic. In this sense the law of personal status represents an entrenched part of the religion, and Muslims have by and large regarded adherence to its principles as a criterion of the religious propriety of individuals and governments. It is, therefore, not surprising to find that the sharīʿah law of personal status has remained largely applicable in Muslim countries today in spite of recent reforms that have adapted many aspects of the classical law to suit the requirements of modern life. Reform of the sharīʿah law is a phenomenon of the twentieth century and, because of the continuing relevance of the...