A Tale of Two Stories

This book inves­ti­gates an Egyp­tian scandal about paternity and marriage in the years 2004 to 2007. It asks about legal change in Egyp­tian family law and Islamic juri­s­pru­dence while also inqui­ring into the effects of media coverage. The study draws from a variety of sources, inclu­ding news­paper arti­cles, court rulings, univer­sity text­books, fatwas, etc. The resul­ting presen­ta­tion tells two diffe­ring stories about the affair of Hind al-Ḥinnāwī and Aḥmad al-Fīšāwī: one is dramatic and promises change, the other is tech­nical and purports routine. In order to make sense of this, both stories are situated in a discourse analytical frame­work. Buil­ding on the distinc­tion of special discourse, inter­dis­course, and elemen­tary discourse, the combined analysis of both tales deve­lops a new perspec­tive on the issue of change and arrives at an inter­dis­cur­sive view of legal deve­lop­ment in Egyp­tian family law.