RESEARCH TRENDS IN ISLAMIC FAMILY LAW: A BIBLIOMETRIC ANALYSIS OF SCOPUS PUBLICATIONS (2000–2024)

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.30863/aldustur.v9i1.10392

Keywords:

Islamic Family Law, Sharia Law, Bibliometric, Nvivo, VOSviewer

Abstract

The last 20 years have seen a growing interest in Islamic Family Law among scholars with a significant number of studies being published in international settings. The current paper evaluates the trend in the research activities in relation to Islamic Family Law across the world between the year 2000 and the year 2024. This study used data out of the Scopus journal. A systematic bibliometric analysis shows that the number of articles has grown since 2015 because of the increased interest in women's issues worldwide, the necessity to introduce changes in Muslim states, and the connection between the Islamic family law and other legal systems. Malaysia, Indonesia, Pakistan and Egypt are also considered to be some of the pioneer countries which study Islamic Family Law and the western countries that have a problem of Muslim minority also have made remarkable contributions in the study of Islamic Family Law. This paper is a critique and synthesis of the literature on issues like polygamy, divorce, and child marriage through sentiment analysis and elicits the potential opinions at both ends of the spectrum. The results indicate that research on Islamic Family Law has expanded across multiple dimensions. However, the NVivo thematic coding reveals recurring concerns regarding compatibility between Islamic family law and international human rights norms, particularly in discussions on gender equality and child marriage. This paper intends to scope the existing field in hopes of covering contemporary discourses by focusing on the Islamic Family Law research field and detailing the evolution of the field and mapping its prominent scholars.

References

Abbasi, M. Z. “Development of Women’s Right to No-Fault Judicial Divorce (Khul‘) in Pakistan: Judges and ‘Ulamā’ as Catalysts for Legal Reform.” Islamic Studies 61, no. 2 (2022): 169–89. Scopus. https://doi.org/10.52541/isiri.v61i2.2313.

Abbasi, M. Z. “Judicial Ijtihad as a Tool for Legal Reform: Extending Women’s Right to Divorce under Islamic Law in Pakistan.” Islamic Law and Society 24, no. 4 (2017): 384–411. Scopus. https://doi.org/10.1163/15685195-00244P04.

Abbasi, M. Z., and S. A. Cheema. “Polygamy and Second Marriage under Muslim Family Law in Pakistan: Regulation and Impact.” Islamic Studies 59, no. 1 (2020): 29–50. Scopus.

Abdullah, R., and S. Khairuddin. “The Malaysian Shari’ah Courts: Polygamy, Divorce and the Administration of Justice.” Asian Women 25, no. 1 (2009): 21–54. Scopus.

Abubakar, A., G. Achyar, H. Khatimah, and S. A. A. Samad. “The Postponement of The Implementation of Inheritance Distribution in The Seunuddon Community, North Aceh in The Perspective of ‘Urf Theory and Legal Pluralism.” El-Usrah 6, no. 2 (2023): 411–29. Scopus. https://doi.org/10.22373/ujhk.v6i2.10207.

Ahmed Zaki, H. “Law, Culture, and Mobilization: Legal Pluralism and Women’s Access to Divorce in Egypt.” Muslim World Journal of Human Rights 14, no. 1 (2017): 1–25. Scopus. https://doi.org/10.1515/mwjhr-2016-0022.

Alaverdov, T. “Comparative Analysis of Legalsocio Studies of Muslims Family According to Islamic Family Law.” In Regulating Human Rights, Social Security, and Socio-Economic Structures in a Global Perspective. 2022. Scopus. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-6684-4620-1.ch002.

Al-Azmeh, Aziz, and Effie Fokas. “Islam in Europe.” Diversity, Identity and Influence, 2007.

Ali, A. P. “The Legal Impediments to the Application of Islamic Family Law in the Philippines.” In Islamic Law in Practice, vol. 3. 2017. Scopus. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315251738.

Aminah, Siti, and Arif Sugitanata. “Genealogy and Reform of Islamic Family Law: Study of Islamic Marriage Law Products in Malaysia.” JIL: Journal of Islamic Law 3, no. 1 (2022): 94–110. https://doi.org/10.24260/jil.v3i1.556.

Anwar, Zainah, and Jana S. Rumminger. “Justice and Equity in Muslim Family Laws: Challenges, Possibilities, and Strategies for Reform.” Wash. & Lee L. Rev. 64 (2007): 1529.

Arista, W. and Nursimah. “Human Trafficking from Migrant Labor: An Analysis of Patriarchal Ideology in Community and State.” IOP Conf. Ser. Earth Environ. Sci. 175, no. 1 (2018). Scopus. https://doi.org/10.1088/1755-1315/175/1/012052.

Awad, A. “Islamic Family Law in American Courts: A Rich, Diverse and Evolving Jurisprudence.” In Muslim Family Law in Western Courts. 2014. Scopus. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315796369.

Azeem, Muhammad, Naseer Ahmad Salfi, and AH Dogar. “Usage of NVivo Software for Qualitative Data Analysis.” Academic Research International 2, no. 1 (2012): 262–66.

Bloor, Michael, and Fiona Wood. Keywords in Qualitative Methods: A Vocabulary of Research Concepts. 2006.

Bowen, J., W. Kymlicka, M. Hopenhayn, et al. “Social Progress and Cultural Change.” In Century: Report of the International Panel on Social Progress: Volume 3: Transformations in Values, Norms, Cultures, vol. 3. 2018. Scopus. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108399661.002.

Bowen, John R. A New Anthropology of Islam. Cambridge University Press, 2012.

Charrad, M. M., and R. Stephan. “The ‘Power of Presence’: Professional Women Leaders and Family Law Reform in Morocco.” Social Politics 27, no. 2 (2020): 337–60. Scopus. https://doi.org/10.1093/sp/jxz013.

Elliott-Mainwaring, Helen. “Exploring Using NVivo Software to Facilitate Inductive Coding for Thematic Narrative Synthesis.” British Journal of Midwifery 29, no. 11 (2021): 628–32.

Escámez, A. Q. “Islamic Family Law in the Courts Spain’s Position with Regard to the Moroccan Family Code.” In Muslim Family Law in Western Courts. 2014. Scopus. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315796369.

Esposito, John L. The Future of Islam. Oxford University Press, 2010.

Fauzi, Fauzi. “‘Urf and Its Role in The Development of Fiqh: Comparative Study of Famliy Law Between Egypt and Indonesia.” El-Usrah 7, no. 1 (2024): 346–71. Scopus. https://doi.org/10.22373/ujhk.v7i1.23968.

Fauzi, M. L. “Changing Trends In The Study Of Sharia In Indonesia An Account on Relevant Bibliographies.” Journal of Indonesian Islam 16, no. 2 (2022): 511–33. Scopus. https://doi.org/10.15642/JIIS.2022.16.2.511-533.

Fournier, P. “Family Law, State Recognition and Intersecting Spheres/Spaces: Jewish and Muslim Women Divorcing in the United Kingdom.” In Culture in the Domains of Law. 2017. Scopus. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316681060.003.

Gordon, M. S., and K. A. Hain. Concubines and Courtesans: Women and Slavery in Islamic History. Concubines and Courtesans: Women and Slavery in Islamic History. 2017. Scopus. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190622183.001.0001.

Griffiths, John. “What Is Legal Pluralism?” The Journal of Legal Pluralism and Unofficial Law 18, no. 24 (1986): 1–55.

Hallaq, Wael B. The Formation of Islamic Law. Routledge, 2016.

Hamdani, M. F. “Islamic Family Law in the Perspective of Universal Declaration Human Rights (UDHR) and the Universal Islamic Declaration Human Rights (UIDHR).” Ahkam: Jurnal Ilmu Syariah 16, no. 1 (2016): 21–30. Scopus. https://doi.org/10.15408/ajis.v16i1.2892.

Kamaruddin, Z., and R. Abdullah. “Protecting Muslim Women against Abuse of Polygamy in Malaysia: Legal Perspective.” In Islamic Law in Practice, vol. 3. 2017. Scopus. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315251738.

Khalfaoui, M. “Current Muslim Understandings of Classical Family Law in a Modern Secular Context: Germany as a Case Study.” Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs 40, no. 1 (2020): 117–27. Scopus. https://doi.org/10.1080/13602004.2020.1741163.

Khedher, R. “Tracing the Development of the Tunisian 1956 Code of Personal Status.” Journal of International Women’s Studies 18, no. 4 (2017): 30–37. Scopus.

Klarin, Anton. “How to Conduct a Bibliometric Content Analysis: Guidelines and Contributions of Content Co‐occurrence or Co‐word Literature Reviews.” International Journal of Consumer Studies 48, no. 2 (2024): e13031.

Linnenluecke, Martina K., Mauricio Marrone, and Abhay K. Singh. “Conducting Systematic Literature Reviews and Bibliometric Analyses.” Australian Journal of Management 45, no. 2 (2020): 175–94.

McAllister, James T., Lora Lennertz, and Zayuris Atencio Mojica. “Mapping a Discipline: A Guide to Using VOSviewer for Bibliometric and Visual Analysis.” Science & Technology Libraries 41, no. 3 (2022): 319–48.

Merry, Sally Engle. “Legal Pluralism.” Law & Society Review 22, no. 5 (1988): 869–96.

Moors, A. “Debating Islamic Family Law: Legal Texts and Social Practices.” In A Social History of Women and Gender in the Modern Middle East. 2018. Scopus. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429502606.

Muhajir, M. “Islamic Family Law Reform In The Post-Arab Spring Tunisia: Between Liberalism and Conservatism.” Al-Ahwal 14, no. 1 (2021): 26–39. Scopus. https://doi.org/10.14421/ahwal.2021.14103.

Muslimin, JM. The Sociological Explanation of Indonesian Muslim Family Continuity and Change. 2019.

Nader, N., and R. E. A. Debian. “Winds of Change: Egypt’s Islamic Family Law between Two Centuries (1920-2013).” In North African Women After the Arab Spring: In the Eye of the Storm. 2017. Scopus. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-49926-0_11.

Nasir, M., Y. Roslaili, R. Khathir, A. Idris, and M. Anzaikhan. “Legal Status And Consequences Of Unilateral Divorce: Comparative Studies Between Egypt, Jordan, Tunisia And Indonesia” Malaysian Journal of Syariah and Law 12, no. 2 (2024): 457–70. Scopus. https://doi.org/10.33102/mjsl.vol12no2.614.

Nur, E. R., and A. Hermanto. “Dynamic Development of Family Law in Muslim Countries.” Al-’Adalah 19, no. 1 (2022): 161–78. Scopus. https://doi.org/10.24042/adalah.v19i1.12421.

Qomaro, Galuh Widitya. “Age of Consent in Islam: Between Legal Principles, Controversies, and Social Adaptations.” Articles. Al Ahkam 19, no. 2 (2023): 59–76. https://doi.org/10.37035/ajh.v19i2.9590.

Rehman, J. “The Sharia, Islamic Family Laws and International Human Rights Law: Examining the Theory and Practice of Polygamy and Talaq.” International Journal of Law, Policy and the Family 21, no. 1 (2007): 108–27. Scopus. https://doi.org/10.1093/lawfam/ebl023.

Ruby, T. F. Muslim Women’s Rights: Contesting Liberal-Secular Sensibilities in Canada. Muslim Women’s Rights: Contesting Liberal-Secular Sensibilities in Canada. 2019. Scopus. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315182933.

Seedat, Fatima. “Gender and the Study of Islamic Law: From Polemics to Feminist Ethics.” In The Routledge Handbook of Islam and Gender. Routledge, 2020.

Sportel, I. “Who’s Afraid of Islamic Family Law? Dealing with Shari‘a-Based Family Law Systems in the Netherlands.” Religion and Gender 7, no. 1 (2017): 53–69. Scopus. https://doi.org/10.18352/rg.10211.

Van Eck, Nees, and Ludo Waltman. “Software Survey: VOSviewer, a Computer Program for Bibliometric Mapping.” Scientometrics 84, no. 2 (2010): 523–38.

Zaman, S. “Amrikan Shari’a: The Reconstruction of Islamic Family Law in the United States.” South Asia Research 28, no. 2 (2008): 185–202. Scopus. https://doi.org/10.1177/026272800802800204.

Downloads

Published

2026-06-19

Issue

Section

Articles