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Abstract In this article, the authors, a Jew and a Muslim, both lawyer-mediators, consider some of the issues which Jews and Muslims in diasporic contexts face in relation to disputes over marriage, divorce and related issues and the role mediation plays in the resolution of such disputes. This is against a backdrop of the national laws where they are settled and in which their respective religious laws also play a part. The authors argue that neither Halakhah (Jewish religious law) nor Sharia (Muslim religious law) is a monolith but comprise basic laws from their respective scriptures, the Torah and the Quran, which have to be applied on an ongoing basis. These scriptures are accompanied by associated texts underpinned by a set of ethical principles which provide certain fundamental norms subject to a diversity of interpretations based, inter alia, on culture, history, geography, tradition and language. Whereas principles derived from their respective traditions can be enabling in mediation for both of these faith-based communities, they also give rise to certain concerns among disputants as well as law-enforcing agencies with regard to perceived and sometimes actual egregious patriarchy and thus may be viewed as an infringement of basic rights particularly in relation to women. The authors, both mediation trainers and specialists with extensive cross-cultural mediation experience internationally, explore some of the similarities and differences between their two faith traditions in this regard and provide suggestions on how faith-based mediation in both these communities, which share a common Abrahamic background, could ensure that their traditional systems and approaches are in line with contemporary mediation practice, and with evolving theory and conventions. By so doing, they argue that both these traditions will be able to contribute more meaningfully to the evolving ADR (Alternative Dispute Resolution, now widely called ‘non-court dispute settlement’) discourse at a time when new models of mediation are being considered and the whole notion of relationality is acquiring a new cogency in the mediation debate.