After 2003 Iraq:

A Critical Analysis of the Personal Status Law Amendment and Its Socio-Religious Implications

Zainab Waheed Dahham

 

Abstract: This note offers a critical analysis of the recent amendment to Iraq’s Personal Status Law No. 188 of 1959, situating it within its broader historical and political contexts, particularly the post-2003 transformations that have reoriented the Iraqi legal system along increasingly sectarian lines. The note interrogates the ideological and political forces underpinning this legislative development. It further assesses the legal, social, and religious ramifications of incorporating sect-specific jurisprudence into the domain of family law, examining its impact on the coherence of the legal system, the rights of women and children, and broader societal cohesion. The note concludes that, although the formal recognition of jurisprudential pluralism is framed as a measure to safeguard religious freedom, in practice it risks institutionalising sectarian division within the personal status regime. This development raises fundamental questions regarding constitutional justice and the compatibility of Islamic jurisprudential diversity with the principles of a unified and modern legal order.