Khalid M. Al-Azri - Social and Gender Inequality in Oman

Looking at the social, political and legal changes in Oman since 1970, this book challenges the Islamic and tribal traditional cultural norms relating to marriage, divorce and womens rights which guide social and legal practice in the modern Omani state. The book argues that despite the establishment of legal instruments guaranteeing equality for all citizens, the fact that the state depends upon Islamic and tribal elites for its legitimacy invalidates these guarantees in practice. Two particular features of the legal and cultural regulation of marriage and marital rights are focused on: the perceived requirement for kafaa , or equality in marriage between so called high and low socio-economic status peoples, and the institution of talaq , which grants greater rights to men than to women in appeals for divorce. This book addresses highly complex subjects with great rigor, in terms of empiri- cal research and engagement with theory; sociological and political as well as theological and legal. It is an interesting investigation of the divisions of authority between the state, Islam and tribal norms, highlighting barriers to reform in both Oman and wider Islamic society, and advocating the removal of such obstacles.

Khalid M. Al-Azri is a Senior Research Fellow in Gulf Studies at the University of Oxford, Middle East Centre and is a former Research Fellow at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Edited by Anoushiravan Ehteshami

First published 2013
by Routledge
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2013 Khalid M. Al-Azri

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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Al-Azri, Khalid M., 1969

Social and gender inequality in Oman : the power of religious and political tradition /
Khalid M. Al-Azri.
p. cm. (Durham modern Middle East and Islamic world series ; 26)
Includes bibliographical references and index.