Dialogues of Legal Sovereignty in Iraqi Kurdistan

Islamic legal traditions in Iraqi Kurdistan equip husbands with the power of effecting a divorce by speech. Construed as an authoritative speaking subject in the law, husbands nonetheless often give divorces that they regret, and seek the advice of muftis to repair legitimate marriages. Muftis in turn sometimes call upon the personal status law enforced in state courts to facilitate that repair. Yet, the nuance of legal process show that legal sovereignty emerges in a dialogue between multiple actors in and beyond legal institutions that stretch beyond the state. Challenging the widespread narrative of ascending state sovereignty in Iraq, this process redirects inquiry to more complex dialogues of power among husbands, wives, muftis, and the state that requires attention to what ordinary Muslims do with law.

Islam · Legal process · Narrative · Power (physics) · Sharia · Sovereignty · State (computer science) · Subject (documents) · Islamic Studies and History · Post-Soviet Geopolitical Dynamics · Turkey's Politics and Society