Family law and matters of personal status, firmly situated within the religious jurisdiction of Sharīʿah, have long constituted sites of both domestic and international contestation. As the primary unit in which individuals are physically and morally reproduced, the family structure functions not only as a social institution but also as a key mechanism for reinforcing patriarchal gender hierarchies (Moghadam, 2013). It delineates the acceptable boundaries of sexual conduct and legitimises filiation, thereby maintaining established social orders through marital alliances and the regulation of kinship (Dunne, 1998). Despite frequent assumptions that colonial authorities were reluctant to intervene in family law due to its perceived centrality to religious doctrine and communal identity (Asad, 2003), the very framing of Sharīʿah as synonymous with personal status law reflects a deeper secular logic.