Divorce Islamic style
Mohamad Mostafa Nassar
Twitter:@NassarMohamadMR
Do women have a right to divorce in Islam? – Dr Zakir Naik
Like marriage divorce has conditions and rules.
Usually, it is the man who can divorce his wife without going to court however if a woman wants a divorce she should go to court.
Once a man tells his wife she is divorced they have a three-month cooling off period. During the three month the wife should stay in the marital home.
Are Women Cursed For Asking For Divorce In Islam Shaykh Waleed Basyouni from Faith IQ
The husband should call two witnesses to tell them of the divorce. If sexual intercourse takes place during the cooling off period, the marriage continues according to the same marriage contract.
This can happen twice only, if it happens a third time either the wife or the husband has to leave the marital home and the divorce is final.
The only way for the couple to return is if the wife gets married to another man and gets divorced again. Some husbands organise a friend or servant to marry the wife and immediately divorce her. This is not acceptable as consumption has to take place which in these arrangements it does not.
A wife may buy her divorce from her husband by returning all his gifts and maybe other monetary inducement.
If a couple are unhappy and always fighting, they may choose arbiters from her family and his. Their decision is final. Australia only discovered family arbitration in the seventies of the last century when Islam instituted it 1400 years ago.
Women are entitled to a stipend for looking after the children as well the cost of maintains the children after a divorce.
Children’s custody goes to the mother till the son is aged 7 and the daughter aged 9.
A wife inherits her husband if they did not divorce.
Lately Muslim men who are technology savvy, are using SMS and emails to divorce their wives. Malaysia has outlawed the practice however it has not outlawed the practice of issuing three divorces at once.
When Omar Ibn Al Khattak was the Khalifa, he outlawed pronouncing three divorces at once.
The Quran advises men to be kind to their wives while they live together and be kind when they divorce them as well and not use divorce as a weapon of torture.
according to Islam it is the husband that divorces his wife. Later he applies to the family court for divorce simply to legalise it. However religiously the marriage ends with the husband’s pronouncement no other human can grant divorce in this case.
There are two ways for a woman to leave the marriage for any reason whatsoever, the first is by going a judge who will order the husband to divorce his wife, this is called Talaq (divorce) and the second is by the wife returning his gifts back and negotiating a settlement this is called Khul’.
In case of violence the man loses his rights, in all cases the wife is still entitled to alimony depending on her age and a stipend for looking after the children. The girl goes to the father’s custody at age 9 and the boy at age 7. If the father is unable to look after the children, they remain with the mother.
The children usually go to the father’s custody if his mother can look after them, the reason behind it is so the divorced wife is free to marry again and for the husband to learn not to be hasty is divorcing her or mistreating her.
Islam forbids the hitting of the face not even of animals. Also hitting one’s wife is not to hurt but to show he is displeased, this takes place by using a toothbrush, not with his hand, fist, stick or any other implement to cause pain of any sort.
The Quran advises men to treat their wives with kindness and when divorcing them to leave them with kindness.
The Prophet advises us to smile to our wives when we go home and in his last sermon, he told us the best of us are the ones who are kind to their women.
Allah knows Best.