Abstract:
The main objective of this study is to assess the Decisions Of Sharia Court OnFamily Matters
andMuslim Women's Rights in Yilmana Densa Woreda, West Gojjam, Ethiopia. The researcher
instigated to study the issue because of the absence of compressive research in relation to the
topic in the study area. So as to address the objective of the study, the researcher used qualitative
research approach. The study was mainly conducted by using fifteenkey informants who were
selected through snowball and purposive sampling technique. The Qadi was also one of the key
informants who was selected purposely. The researcher employed three data collection
instruments: in-depth interview, focus group discussion and observation. The data collected from
both primary and secondary sources were organized and analyzed thematically. The finding of
the study exposed that the sharia law never forced a women to marry a person whom she dislike.
Polygamy is allowed in sharia law if a husband able to treat his wives equally. In addition to this,
the sharia law protected the equal inheritance right of women when she is divorced and lost her
husband in death. The maintenance right of women during and after marriage is also the other
right of women protected by the sharia court. The finding of the study also confirmed that
although the sharia law allowed women to be Qadi, the tradition in the study area influenced
Muslim women not to be a Qadi.The finding of the study also pointed out that the sharia law
never sees criminal cases rather it focused on family matter alone. The finding of the study also
revealed that the sharia court is dependent under the regular court. Based on the above findings,
representation of women as Qadi in the sharia court, independency of the sharia court
administration system from regular court and addressing the criminal casesby the sharia court
were given as recommendations.
