How did India and Pakistan apply Islamic family law through their regular court systems?

In India and Pakistan, Islamic family law is not administered by separate religious courts. Instead, it has historically been applied by the same national courts that handle general civil and criminal matters.1

The administration of this law has evolved significantly:

• Statutory Basis: Much of the family law in these regions is now embodied in statutory legislation rather than traditional legal manuals. Because the system functions as a case-law system, judicial decisions have superseded the authority of those manuals.1
• Rules of Evidence: The courts apply the same rules of evidence to Islamic family law cases as they do to general civil cases. This system is based on English law, specifically codified in the Indian Evidence Act of 1872.1
• Legal Reform: Reforms in areas such as child marriage and divorce were achieved through statutory enactments—such as the Child Marriage Restraint Act of 1929 and the Dissolution of Muslim Marriages Act of 1939—which directly superseded traditional Hanafī law.2
• Judicial Interpretation: In Pakistan, courts have endorsed the right to independent interpretation of the Qurʾān and Hadith, as seen in landmark rulings that expanded rights beyond traditional interpretations.2