When Hussein Hamdeh, a physics professor at Wichita State University, got married in Lebanon in 2003, he agreed under Islamic law to pay his wife $5,000 in the event the couple divorced. Nine years later, his wife, Hala Hamdeh, is arguing in divorce filings in Kansas state court that limiting her to that agreement would deprive her of community property.
The case is a hot topic in Kansas, where Governor Sam Brownback signed into law on May 21 a ban on the application of foreign law in the state’s courts. Kansas was the fifth state to enact such a ban. Muslim groups, including the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), argue the bans, most of which use the general terms “foreign” or “international” law, are veiled affronts to their religious beliefs in particular, to Islamic law, referred to as Sharia. The legislation, they note, has accompanied a rise in animus toward Muslims since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
