Experiencing ‘nikah Captivity’ in the West

Abstract

Based on interviews with Muslim minority women and Islamic authorities, this article proposes a step-based model for understanding Muslim divorce processes in diaspora. Such processes are highly dependent on individual women’s embedding in gendered geographies of power: The analysis shows that second-generation immigrant women generally are quite easily able to put a full end to unwanted marriages. In contrast, first-generation immigrant women may end up living in yearlong ‘nikah captivity’, unable to have their nikahs (their ‘Muslim marriages’) dissolved, even though they have obtained a divorce under Danish law. When (ex)husbands keep (ex)wives in such nikah captivity, it can be regarded as a type of post-separation violence, facilitated by the migration-induced separation of Muslims from Islamic institutions.