Islamic Law, Unitary State Law, and Communal Law: Divorce and Remarriage in Egypt’s Coptic Community

Abstract

Egypt’s Coptic community is currently appealing to different legal jurisdictions in the struggle over divorce and remarriage. While the Coptic Orthodox Church is claiming the right, based on Islamic law, to apply its own communal law for marriage, others are calling on the church to reinterpret the biblical texts regarding divorce. Still other Copts are appealing to the constitution and to unitary state law to override a communal approach to personal status law. The case of divorce and remarriage in Egypt illustrates the ways in which Christian communal law, unitary state law, and Islamic law do not exist as a priori concepts but are in the process of continual negotiation with one another. In examining these negotiations, this article sheds light on one of the most important legal conundrums currently facing the relationship between the Coptic community and the state in Egypt.