34 FAMILY ADVOCATE www.shopaba.org
prohibitions on consideration or use by courts or
arbitral tribunals of foreign or international law.
FURTHER RESOLVED, at the American Bar
Association opposes federal or state laws that impose
blanket prohibitions on consideration or use by courts
or arbitral tribunals of the entire body of law or
doctrine of a particular religion.
e reality is that American courts have always applied
foreign law through the doctrine of comity. Sharia law, as the
application of foreign law, is not dierent. Linguistically,
“sharia” means “way” or “road.” As a legal term, “Sharia” refers
to “God’s Way” or “God’s Law,” a divine exhortation to all
Muslims about the ideal way to behave in this world. See
generally Asifa Quraisha-Landes, e Sharia Problem with
Sharia Legislation, 41 O N.U. L. R. 545, 547–48
(2017). In the area of family law, Sharia law has been consid-
ered in many, many cases, most notably in the context of
upholding Islamic premarital agreements. As to divorce and
property division, as well as child custody, sometimes the court
will grant comity to a decision of a Sharia court, and some-
times not. e take-away from these cases may be summed up
Sharia and Family Law
PUBLIC POLICY AND RECENT CASES
By CHRISTINE ALBANO & LAURA W. MORGAN
There seems to be a bit of confusion, and
possibly madness, overtaking some legal
circles, based on the fear that “Sharia law is
coming to the United States,” leading state
legislatures to introduce anti-Sharia law bills.
See, for example, Sharia Has Come to Texas, a 2017 Slate
magazine article by Aymann Ismail and Jerey Bloomer; a
2015 report from the Center for Security Policy, Shariah in
American Courts: e Expanding Incursion of Islamic Law in
the U.S. Legal System; and Swathi Shanmugasundaram’s
Anti-Sharia Law Bills in the United States, published with the
Southern Poverty Law Center in 2018.
Of course, this is nonsense. See generally, Nothing to Fear:
Debunking the Mythical “Sharia reat” to Our Judicial
System, A Report of the ACLU Program On Freedom Of
Religion And Belief (2011). Professors, attorneys, judges, and
legislators have denounced the anti-Sharia movement, with
the American Bar Association taking a prominent position in
a 2011 resolution:
RESOLVED, at the American Bar Association
opposes federal or state laws that impose blanket
Published in Family Advocate, Volume 42, Number 2, Fall 2019. © 2019 by the American Bar Association. Reproduced with permission. All rights reserved. This information or any portion thereof
may not be copied or disseminated in any form or by any means or stored in an electronic database or retrieval system without the express written consent of the American Bar Association.
