States with Islamic legal systems may be described as those whose civil and penal laws are predominantly based on Shari’a. The Shari’a covers a wide range of issues, including diet, the use of public space, and child custody and criminal punishment.

• Personal status law or family law is the area most commonly covered by Islamic law in mixed/pluralist systems.

The system is based on religious sources of law and legal (interpretation) techniques: the Qur’an, Hadith or Sunna (custom or conduct of the Prophet Mohammed), Ijma (consensus or opinion, agreement among Muslim jurists on a question of law), Qiyas (analogical deduction, in matters not covered by other sources) and Ijtihad (exercising independent juristic reasoning).

Islamic law most often coexists with customary norms and/or ‘secular’ legal frameworks (in a pluralist system).

Most Islamic States have incorporated the Shari’a into their domestic law, to one degree or another.

Constitutions of Islamic States serve as useful frameworks for determining the status of international law within the legal framework. The Constitutions of many States provide that the Shari’a shall be the principal source of legislation.

Thereby, these States largely follow a dualist system, providing supremacy to Shari’a.

Source: (Ali, 2007)

Many Islamic States Parties have made reservations to the CRC (for example, concerning marriage, custody, adoption, inheritance, freedom of religion) on the basis that they are not in line with Shari’a – see reservation status.

Legislative reform to implement the CRC at the national level can be challenging, due to the conflicts between Islamic law and human rights.

Particular considerations need to be taken into account when reviewing and reforming legislation that derives from Islamic law to bring it in line with the provisions of the CRC.

• The religious and historical dimension of Islamic law requires an approach that takes into account more than written jurisprudence. It should also consider, for example, the role of religious leaders and teachers in the interpretation of norms and values affecting children and children’s rights.
• Local variation also plays an important role in Islam. Not only were regional traditions influential in the development of the Shari’a, but religion as it is now explained and understood at the local level does not always conform to the letter of the Qur’an, and local custom has informed the development of the different schools of Islamic law.
• As a result, conflicts which may exist between children’s human rights and what is understood to be compatible with Islam are not always consistent across the Muslim world.
• Highlighting the provisions of Islamic law that are conducive to children’s rights can advance the implementation of the CRC.
• E.g.: In Indonesia UNFPA works with religious leaders to end female genital mutilation (FGM).

For more information, see: Indonesian religious leaders, health workers advocate female genital mutilation’s end.

Source: (Ali, 2007)