Negotiating Sharia, Secularism, and The Body: Gender and Legal Reforms in Post-Ottoman States

As published in the Volume 3(1) of Ramjas Political Review

Abstract

With the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, its successor governments faced difficulties in reconciling Islamic legal traditions with secular rule. The issue of gender emerged as a key element in legal discourse, particularly the regulation of the female body. This essay discusses Turkey, Egypt, and Tunisia's policy approaches to family law reforms, sharia implications, and the layered application of secularism. It examines the symbolic and functional roles of gender in codifying citizenship through a legal lens, aiming to demonstrate how these dynamics legitimised state authority while forging new notions of identification and belonging.

Keywords: Sharia, Islamic legal traditions, Secularism, Gender, Belonging

To read: Link

The author, Imashi Maduwanthi Perera, is a student at Sapienza University of Rome.

Featured image credit: Metropolitan Museum of Art/Gift of George D. Pratt, 1925