Legislative amendments to the Iraqi Personal Status Law of 2025 and their impact on family unity and stability

Abstract

There is no doubt that the family entity, building it on the right foundations, and preserving its existence is a sacred and extremely important matter that everyone strives to achieve and work to establish. Through legal legislation and texts that would achieve this goal, Through the legal provisions contained in the Personal Status Law, we find that this entity is based on foundations and factors of strength that are fundamentally based on the provisions of Islamic Sharia starting with the engagement, passing through the contract and what it includes in terms of dowry and other rights, maintenance and how it is spent, who is responsible for it and to whom it is due, and other legislation that guarantees the preservation of this sacred entity.

This study sheds light on the subject of amendments to Personal Status Law No. 188 of 1959 and its amendments. She objectively discussed the impact of these amendments, which were voted on by the Iraqi Parliament in 2025, on the family structure, its stability and unity. a group of questions came to answer them, Is it permissible to lift the penalty on those who conclude a marriage contract outside the court, whether for the first or second time, or to allow polygamy without seeking the woman’s consent, or to change the age of custody for the mother to reduce it, or to allow the cleric to conclude a marriage contract outside the courtrooms, Are there sufficient justifications for the loss of the Iraqi family, the tearing apart of its unity and the destruction of its entity, or are they, according to those calling for amendment and those who support them, issues based on established religious texts and have no relation to the unity of the family, its tearing apart and the destruction of its entity?, And the Iraqi legislator, when he wrote the texts of this law in 1959, violated the Sharia texts and exerted himself in his legal legislation within the scope of the possibility of disposing of permissible things, whether broadly or narrowly. Then, come up with a conclusion that includes a set of results and suggestions that serve the purpose of writing this research.