Family
The 1991 Muslim Personal Status Act, partly reformed in 2020
The Personal Status of Muslims Act 1991 governs marriage, divorce and succession for Muslims, with separate arrangements for non-Muslims. A 2020 reform criminalised FGM and repealed the public-order and apostasy provisions.
Key rules
- Jurisdiction — National, with personal status divisions in the ordinary courts.
Governing law
- Personal Status of Muslims Act 1991
- Criminal Act 1991 as amended by the Miscellaneous Amendments Act 2020 — FGM criminalised
- Non-Muslim Personal Status Act 1926
In practice
The 1991 Act codifies a Maliki-influenced personal status law with guardianship in marriage, permitted polygamy and fixed succession shares. The July 2020 amendments were the most substantial liberalisation in a generation: female genital mutilation was criminalised, the apostasy offence was repealed, public flogging as a punishment was abolished for most offences, and the requirement that women obtain male permission to travel with children was removed. Those changes were made by the transitional authorities and their durability after the 2021 coup and the 2023 war is exactly what cannot be verified, since enforcement depends on functioning courts and prosecutors. The minimum age of marriage under the 1991 Act remains low, tied to puberty rather than to a fixed age, and reform of that provision was pending rather than enacted.