The Status of Muslim Marriages in South Africa

A free workshop in collaboration with the Saartjie Baartman Centre for Women and Children.

The workshop will be presented by our Director, Dr Fatima Essop, a founding member of the Muslim Family Law Hub. She has practiced as both, an Attorney and Advocate of the High Court of South Africa, as well as a family law mediator. She has a degree in Islamic law from the International Peace College of South Africa (IPSA), a certification in Islamic Finance from the Ethica Institute of Islamic Finance, UAE, and a PhD in law from the University of Cape Town. She was a Fellow at Harvard Law School in the Program on Law and Society in the Muslim World in 2022-23. She researches and publishes in the area of Muslim family law and advocates for more just, and equitable readings of Islamic law texts pertaining to Muslim family laws. She firmly believes in using law as an instrument for social justice. She is currently a senior lecturer at the University of the Western Cape where she lectures undergraduate modules in Islamic laws of marriage, divorce and inheritance.