In a series of judgments starting in 1959, Pakistani judges reformed Islamic family law by extending women’s right to no-fault based divorce (khulʿ). For this purpose, they directly interpreted the Qurʾān and Sunnah, and removed the requirement of the consent of a husband for judicial khulʿ. This article analyses the methods and the methodological tools that Pakistani judges used to justify the unilateral right of women to no-fault judicial divorce. The analysis shows that instead of following the opinions of classical jurists, Pakistani judges exercised independent legal reasoning (ijtihād). By using judicial ijtihād, Pakistani judges continue to play a key role in reforming classical Islamic family law with changing circumstances.

中文翻译：

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司法改革作为法律改革工具：扩大巴基斯坦伊斯兰法规定的妇女离婚权


在 1959 年开始的一系列判决中，巴基斯坦法官通过扩大妇女的无过错离婚权 (khulʿ) 来改革伊斯兰家庭法。为此，他们直接解释了古兰经和圣训，并取消了司法 khulʿ 需要丈夫同意的要求。本文分析了巴基斯坦法官用来证明妇女单方面无过错司法离婚权利的方法和方法工具。分析表明，巴基斯坦法官没有遵循古典法学家的意见，而是行使独立的法律推理（ijtihad）。通过使用司法 ijtihad，巴基斯坦法官在不断变化的情况下在改革古典伊斯兰家庭法方面继续发挥关键作用。