1. Objectifs

Intentions :
«The aim of the project was to comprehend the ways that Montreal Muslim women in particular seek to resolve the family problems they encounter.» (p. 340)

Questions/Hypothèses :
«Does there exist in the Montreal Muslim communities a parallel justice system for the resolution of family disputes? To what degree are the Quebec civil justice system and Muslim dispute resolution processes insular or, on the contrary, overlapping?» (p. 340)

2. Méthode

Échantillon/Matériau :
L’échantillon compte «24 women, representative of a variety of geographic and ethnic origins and immigration histories and who also reflected different relationships to Islam as a religion. […] Furthermore, we sought to establish a broader picture through interviews with a number of different agents who are involved in family conflict resolution. A total of 37 persons were interviewed including: five community workers, four social workers, 13 Muslim religious counsellors (five full-time imams of mosques, six part-time or occasional imams, two non-imams), six accredited family mediators, one lay mediator, two judges and six lawyers.» (p. 340)

Instruments :
Guide d’entretien semi-directif

Type de traitement des données :
Analyse de contenu

3. Résumé

«In conclusion, we found there was no such thing as an unofficial and organized Muslim legal system in Montreal that may exist parallel to the state justice system. Rather we noted the existence of a varying set of adaptable processes revolving around individual religious counsellors who, depending on the counselor and the issue, grant varying degrees of authority to Quebec family law norms and courts. » (p. 345) «From the perspective of the Quebec legal order, Shari’a may seem to either yield or mutate when the parties and/or the religious counsellor give weight to the former in the family dispute process. But the same phenomenon can also be explained, at least in part, by endogenous agents if we recall the later legal history of the wider Muslim world, which involves the spread of discourses and practices of reform […] that were influenced by and shaped legal modernization projects there (i.e. the codification and reform of marriage and divorce laws). This eventually led to the wider acceptance among Muslim scholars of selecting rulings from a variety of juristic schools of thought, according to what they deem better to fit modern social conditions, as well as an acceptance of state intervention into rules of evidence and procedure. A number of religious counsellors have quite apparently interiorized this pragmatic and eclectic attitude to the Islamic juristic tradition.» (p. 347)