Shari’a courts function as a state-mandated depository of family secrets

Evidence

There is no right relating to kin over which these courts do not have jurisdiction. This means, says Abduh, that shari¯‘a judges look into matters that are very private and listen to what others are not allowed to hear. For even as they provide the framework of justice, so they are a depository for every kind of family secret. In other words, the courts are expected both to guard the privacy of the words and acts of domestic life and to work through the sentiments on which social life ultimately depends. — Talal Asad, Formations of the Secular, 1094

Categorization

• QUESTION: Asad notes Abduh emphasized secrecy even though the 1897 code required public hearings — what is the actual historical practice of attendance at shari’a hearings in Egypt around 1900?