DIVORCE IN ISLAMIC LAW
Disliked, but Permitted
ISLAM allows for only one sort of physical relationship between men and women, and that is in the form of marriage which is announced and publicly known. It is but inevitable that differences will arise between the spouses. According to Islam, the way out is not by seeking to wipe out these differences but, rather, to accept them, or to seek to reconcile them or for the spouses to continue to live together despite their differences.
Yet, it sometimes happens that the spouses are unable to properly manage their differences and so decide to go in for a divorce. Divorce has been accepted in Islam as something that can be resorted to in extreme circumstances. At the same time, Islam frowns upon divorce. According to a Hadith, although divorce is permissible, God does not like it.
Islam allows for only one sort of physical relationship between men and women, and that is in the form of marriage which is announced and publicly known.
Very often, divorce is resorted to in anger, and this is why Islam has devised a method to control it. The Quran says that a man can give two revocable utterances of divorce, after which he can retain his wife and stay together on equitable terms or else leave her in kindness (THE QURAN 2: 229). This is the prescribed method of divorce as laid down in the Quran. Accordingly, a man who intends to divorce his wife should issue the first utterance of divorce in the first month, and the second utterance in the next month. After this, he can revoke his divorce pronouncement if he wants. But in the third month, if he issues the third utterance of divorce, it is irrevocable and the two can no longer be considered husband and wife.
This method of divorce over a period of three months was devised so that if the husband, in a fit of anger, wants to divorce his wife but later, when his temper cools down, changes his mind and wants to carry on with the marriage, he can do so. If his utterance of divorce is not out of anger, but is a planned step where all possible means of reconciliation have proved futile, and with all sincereity thinks that divorce is the only option left, then he has to wait till the third month in order for it to take effect. This pragmatic method of divorce was followed in the early period of Islam. But towards the end of the period of the first Caliph, Abu Bakr, some men, out of anger, began issuing three utterances of divorce in one sitting. At this time, this practice was an exception, but by the time of the latter half of the period of the Caliphate of Umar, the second Caliph, it had become increasingly common.
Divorce has been accepted in Islam as something that can be resorted to in extreme circumstances. At the same time, Islam frowns upon divorce.
In the face of this, and in his capacity as Caliph, Umar decided to take action against this misuse of the law. And so, in the case of some men, he accepted their issuing three utterances of divorce in one sitting as constituting an irrevocable divorce. But, along with this, he also arranged for these men to be punished.
However, this method of divorce remains fairly widespread today, especially in the Indian subcontinent. Men arbitrarily utter the word talaq three times in one breath, often in anger. This is a misuse of Shariah laws, and is a grave sin on the part of the husband. This practice has become very common today, and it urgently demands that the position of the Shariah on the matter be clarified.
One way out of this dilemma is to consider that the utterance of the word talaq three times by the husband in a fit of excess emotion or anger to be equal to just one utterance. If the husband was not serious about the divorce, then he can revoke it soon after. And, if he actually wishes to divorce his wife, then he should do it according to the method prescribed by the Quran, over a period of three months, as explained above.
Conscience is a moral watchdog. It is the finest gift of nature. One who
goes against one’s conscience is making a self-destructive choice.