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Article: Women in Islam.(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)
- Article from:
- The Christian Century
- Article date:
- December 2, 2008
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2008 The Christian Century Foundation. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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In his review of Who Speaks for Islam? (Oct.7), Brian McLaren's claim that "since the seventh century, Muslim law has allowed women to inherit property--a right that wasn't permitted in the West until the modern era," almost made me fall out of my chair. In terms of history, there is much to challenge this claim--for instance, Roman law allowed women to inherit under certain conditions. Even when Roman law became somewhat more restrictive under Emperor Justinian's legislation (which was in force when Islam came into being), it was still far more generous than shari'a law.
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Medieval and early modern regulations in Western Europe ...