The From Male Authority to Relational Responsibility: A Five-Dimensional Qiwamah Model for Gender-Equal Family Law

Abstract

This article reconstructs qiw?mah from a sex-based hierarchy into a relational form of family responsibility compatible with Islamic normativity and gender equality. The problem arises from the persistence of juristic and legal formulations that treat the husband as the primary holder of authority even when contemporary households are sustained by the economic, social, caregiving, and decision-making contributions of both spouses. Using qualitative normative legal research, the study combines conceptual, contextual, comparative, and socio-legal approaches to the Qur’an, hadith, classical and contemporary fiqh, exegetical scholarship, family legislation, judicial decisions, and recent research on maq??id al-shar??ah, mub?dalah, women’s rights, and legal pluralism. The analysis finds that qiw?mah is textually linked to responsibility and maintenance rather than ontological male superiority; hierarchical fiqh formulations are historically situated; and contemporary family realities require authority to be assessed through actual responsibility, capacity, contribution, consent, and legal accountability. A critical comparison of classical-juristic, contextual, and reciprocal interpretations shows that maq??id al-shar??ah and mub?dalah provide the strongest combined basis for preserving Islamic ethical purposes while preventing gender hierarchy from becoming structural discrimination. The article proposes a five-dimensional Relational-Functional Qiw?mah model—relationality, functionality, deliberation, accountability, and protection—and argues that family-law reform must connect doctrinal reinterpretation with gender-responsive legislation, accessible adjudication, and enforceable remedies so that women’s rights are realised substantively.