Abstract
Muslim religious leaders are commonly accused of adopting a conservative interpretation of Islam that guides the way in which they counsel married women on their rights to divorce and how they should address violence in the marital context. They have also been viewed as favouring male-dominant positions, protecting abusive husbands and adopting a reconciliation-at-all-cost approach. Scholars generally argue that women lack representation because the religious bodies which deal with domestic violence are made up predominantly of men. Despite this, and various accusations levelled at religious leaders, their voices are largely absent in academic studies. This thesis sought to interrogate Muslim religious leaders’ views of why domestic violence occurs in the Muslim South African community, why Muslim married women might experience it, what the drivers are, and how the problem could be addressed. The integration of both feminist and family theories was relevant for this study because while patriarchy is important to assess, experience of structural issues as raised by some family theorists is equally crucial. Beyond these frameworks, the use of Bourdieu became important, particularly insofar as habitus and various intersecting fields could be illuminated. The intersecting fields in this study are Islam, family, patriarchy and the economy. These fields influence the amount of resources or capital women have at their disposal. When families place their status ahead of society and command women to respect their husbands unconditionally, they are undermining women’s rights to recourse and emancipation, thus promoting cultural dominance of one group over another.
D.Litt. et Phil. (Sociology)