The Role of Arbitration and Judicial Intervention in Resolving Marital Disputes from the Perspective of the Qur’an and the Iraqi Personal Status Law

Abstract

The family occupies a central position in Islamic law, and the Qur’an approaches marital conflict through a reform-oriented and preventive framework. Rather than denying the occurrence of spousal disputes, Qur’anic teachings recognize them as a natural aspect of marital life that can be managed through ethical and social mechanisms. Qur’an 4:35 establishes arbitration as a primary means of resolving serious marital discord by appointing two arbiters from the families of the spouses, emphasizing reconciliation before any consideration of dissolution. In contrast, the Iraqi Personal Status Law, despite its general inspiration from Islamic jurisprudence, structures the resolution of marital disputes primarily through judicial intervention, rendering arbitration a dependent and largely formal procedure under judicial authority. This study adopts an analytical–comparative approach to examine the divergence between the Qur’anic model of arbitration and the court-centered framework of Iraqi family law. The findings indicate that the dominance of adversarial judicial procedures and evidentiary formalism has weakened reconciliation efforts and contributed to the increase of judicial divorces. The study concludes that restoring arbitration to its independent and reform-oriented role, while limiting judicial intervention to cases of necessity, may enhance the alignment of Iraqi family law with the objectives of Islamic law and contemporary social needs.