In Muslim minority contexts, particularly in the UK and Europe, some of the prevalent discourses on religious-only Muslim marriages share an underlying assumption of a homogenous, legally recognised and culturally streamlined form of Muslim marriages found in Muslim majority contexts. However, this depiction does not represent the diverse and plural lived experiences of how Muslim marriages are entered into, in societies where the majority of the population are Muslim and state codified Muslim family laws exist. Diversity arises on numerous fronts; from the Sunni/Shia doctrinal differentiations to particular cultural norms which impact on the development of Islamic jurisprudence around family law. Muslim majority states have all devised and developed their own particular forms of marriage laws with lesser and greater degrees of normative religious influences. Furthermore, outside the law and its institutions, in the lived realities of many women and men in these contexts, concluding a marriage is organized and experienced in diverse ways. The result is a plurality of marital relationship norms in Muslim majority contexts, which speak against the idea of a cohesive nature to Muslim marriages. Even if with the codification of family law and its concomitant bureaucratization, there is a push towards homogenization, there is simultaneously a great diversity of legal and social practices.

This conference seeks to uncover the plurality in norms and practices in Muslim majority countries, with a central focus on the individual or couple and the way in which they enter into a marital relationship. These marriages may be formal or informal, recognised by the state and simultaneously not recognised by the state (either fully or partially). A necessary element in some country contexts may be the evolving understanding of the nature and parameters of Muslim marriages and questions around legitimacy.

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