Judge Al-Faqih: appointing women to the sharia judiciary is a step on the path to doing them justice

Ramallah 7/3/2009, WAFA, Zulfa Shahrour

Khulood Al-Faqih, the judge at the sharia judicial council, was surprised by the positive environment that received her with affection and warmth, she who had been apprehensive about how the public would receive her, particularly the older among them.

Khulood Al-Faqih, together with a colleague of hers in Hebron, opened doors historically closed not only in Palestine but across the Arab region to women's participation in the sharia courts, and not for legal reasons, because the principle in law is equality among citizens, and the Basic Law in Palestine preserved this right, despite it not being exercised because of social customs and traditions.

WAFA toured the sharia court halls in the city of Al-Bireh and tried to record the impressions of Judge Khulood Al-Faqih during the first two weeks of her work, and the attitude of those working with her and of the litigants before her.

Al-Faqih said: "I faced no difficulty worth mentioning. At the start of my work I expected to face difficulties and problems, particularly with older people rejecting me, especially as their awareness was formed by men only working in the sharia judiciary. But I faced no difficulties; on the contrary, I found real acceptance of me."

She gave an example of the level of her acceptance by the public, saying: "I referred a case to a colleague of mine because I was extremely busy, and I was surprised that the man whose case it was insisted that it be heard before me."

Al-Faqih does not deny that she sometimes senses an inward rejection of her that is not expressed openly, and she senses this inward rejection particularly from women. She explains this, in her belief, by the fact that women can understand other women's motives and reasons better than a man can, and they feel more exposed before women than before men.

Al-Faqih sees in her work a step on the path to doing women justice, and it is an achievement in moral terms and a national achievement for Palestine, as the first to appoint women sharia judges, despite the occupation and division it suffers.

She added: "Women were deprived of this post by force of tradition and not by force of law, which never required that only men be appointed to this post."

Al-Faqih explains that the initiative came from the chief justice, who said after announcing the competition for appointing judges that women judges would be appointed, noting that she had submitted her papers in 2003 for such a competition, but the procedure was delayed.

Al-Faqih's relationship with the judiciary is not new, for she previously worked as a sharia lawyer since 2004, and before that as a legal adviser at the Women's Centre for Legal Aid and Counselling.

Al-Faqih sees great positives in this appointment, noting that the post will give her the ability to help women disclose many details, particularly those relating to the personal relationship between a woman and a man, because they are bolder in speaking about their problems and about the details with a woman judge, and these details may be decisive in supporting their position before the court.

Al-Faqih considered her appointment a real challenge, and said: "This experience must succeed, so that it may be an example at the regional level", noting that the step will encourage other women in Palestine to take up the experience. She added: "Women have succeeded as advocates, so what prevents their success on the bench?"

On the effect of appointing women judges on cases concerning women, in which there is some injustice towards them, she explained that judges prepare monthly reports through which light can be shed on unclear matters that require an amendment in the laws and their inclusion in the personal status law, which has not yet been enacted.

Al-Faqih explained that there is a real need to review the laws, particularly the personal status law, which are Jordanian laws that have not been amended since 1966 and do not keep pace with the spirit of the age, such as raising the age of marriage to 18 instead of 15, so that it is consistent with international laws and with the laws applied here, such as prohibiting buying and selling before the age of 18 and prohibiting obtaining a driving licence before that age.

On how women judges can support women in some cases and in a lawful way, Al-Faqih explained that the maintenance assessed for women is only 50 Jordanian dinars, a sum insufficient to meet her most basic needs. This is a matter the judge can determine by agreeing and bargaining over it with the husband according to his financial situation, explaining that she has been able to reach the highest figures on the matter of maintenance in the history of the sharia judiciary.

She noted that she has been able to reconcile spouses despite the failure of all the reconciliation attempts made between husband and wife at the reconciliation department in the sharia judiciary, because of her engagement with the wife and the husband and her understanding of some of the wife's needs and her conveying them to the husband.

Lawyer Ali Shuqairat, who was pleading in a case heard before Al-Faqih, considered that the experience of appointing a woman judge in the sharia judiciary is the first of its kind in the Arab and Islamic world, describing the experience as pioneering and as showing respect and appreciation for women in Islamic society.

He added that women are half of society and have the competence, ability and capacity to develop and to occupy the highest positions, and political and administrative posts, and the position of the judiciary and the judge's bench is among the highest and most exalted of these posts.

Shuqairat went on: "The sharia courts adjudicate in family matters and affairs, and matters relating to marriage, divorce, children and inheritance, and a woman is in many cases more able to deal with such cases than men."

The police officer Mohammed Abu Sneineh, present daily at the judges' doors, said he had not witnessed a single case of rejection by the public of a woman judge's presence, but he did notice surprise on faces, without comment.

The citizen Issa Abu Khalil confirmed that he was genuinely surprised by the presence of a woman judge, but that he could not say that a man is better than a woman, and said he would wait and see, since his case would be heard before her for the first time that day.

A look of astonishment was clear on the face of Hajja Shahira Jouda at the presence of a woman judge, and she asked again: "There is a woman judge here in the court?" She went on to confirm that a woman helps a woman, because she is more able to understand her, with the signs of astonishment still drawn on her face.

As for the citizen Umm Musa, who joined one of the conversations believing we were asking the public about their support for or rejection of women judges, she said: "Now a woman becomes a judge, and the men should go, there are no seats left for the men", and went on: "Men judge better than women."

The citizen Khaled Musfer believed there is no difference between women and men working as judges in the sharia judiciary, because the sharia judiciary relies on the noble Qur'an and on sharia, and therefore its rulings are clear, and that the real need is for judges in the civil courts, because women are more able to sense humanitarian cases than men.