In writings about Islam, women and modernity in the Middle East, family and religion are frequently invoked but rarely historicized. Accessibly written and based on a wide range of local sources, this book shows that there is no such thing as a typical Muslim or Arab family type. Rather, it reveals dramatic differences, even within the same cultural zone, in the ways that family was understood, organized and reproduced. By concentrating on family life in the Ottoman Empire, in particular in what is now Lebanon and Palestine, Beshara B. Doumani skilfully uses examples of family waqf endowments, lawsuits between kin, and other cases from the shari'a courts to reconstruct the stories and priorities of ordinary individuals. Through his examination of the transformations of family, property and gender regimes, Doumani offers a groundbreaking examination of the lives of ordinary people. By doing so, he challenges prevailing assumptions about modern Middle Eastern societies.