How Talaq/Divorce works according to the Islamic Shariah law

Talaq/Divorce means dissolution or annulment of marriage.

According to the Islamic Shariah law, marriage is a sacred contract between husband and wife.

However, sometimes the marital relations are embittered to such a degree that making a peaceful and harmonious atmosphere of home-life is impossible.

Therefore, in these circumstances Islamic Divorce/Khula or Talaq is the only remedy.

Most importantly, this remedy should be achieved only under the express of exceptional circumstances, when the either party had exhausted all the efforts and means to effect reconciliation. And as a consequence it is best to pull out from the wed-lock.

Above all, it is better for the children, for themselves and for the society that they should be separated. It will be useless to coerce them to remain tied up where there exist hatred and disgust in the relationship.

On the other hand Islam does not provide unlimited opportunities for divorce on frivolous or unreasonable grounds. Certainly it has imposed some restrictions on this undesirable act.

“The Prophet s.a.w. said: Of all the lawful acts the most detestable to Allah is divorce” [Abu Dawud: 2178, Ibn Majah: 2018]

Some restrictions (when man intends to give Talaq)

The first restriction is regarding the Mahr that was given by the husband when marriage contract took place. He is not allowed to withhold it nor allowed to take anything back from her.

Allah swt says in Surah An-Nisa:20:

“and if you wish to have (one) wife in place of another and you have given one of them a heap of gold, then take not from it anything;

would you take it by slandering (her) and (doing her) manifest wrong?”

The second restriction: is that Talaq Ahsan is that only one pronouncement of Talaq within a period of Tuhr in each Tuhr should be made.

And iddah period should be completed which is three menstrual cycles.

During the period of first pronouncement of divorce the couple are required to live as normal (without having physical relationship).

Consequently, if the husband has acted hurriedly or in a fit of passion, he may revoke his pronouncement. And as a result normal relation may be restored.

To revoke the pronouncement, one may act formally as husband and wife or have physical relationship. Subsequently, the preliminary pronouncement of divorce lapse automatically.

The Holy Qur’an says in Surah At-Talaq:1:

“O Prophet! when you divorce women, divorce them for their prescribed time, and calculate the number of the days prescribed, and be careful of (your duty to) Allah, your Lord.

Do not drive them out of their houses, nor should they themselves go forth. Unless they commit an open indecency; and these are the limits of Allah, and whoever goes beyond the limits of Allah, he indeed does injustice to his own soul.

You do not know that Allah may after that bring about reunion”.

The third restriction is the husband who intends to divorce his wife, should not do so in the period of her menstruation.

This condition is deemed necessary because a woman is liable to become ill-tempered. And she may easily provoked to anger during her period.

And sometimes this may lead her to act indecently towards her husband and thus he gets annoyed.

Another reason for this condition is that normal conjugal relations between husband and wife are suspended during the menstruation period.

After the expiry of this period, it may be possible that affection between the couple may be rekindled.

Meanwhile, the wife may change her attitude and thus the divorce question may be removed from each other’s head.

This is why Allah swt forbade the believers to divorce their wives during their menstruation period. The Holy Qur’an says in Surah at-Talaq v:1 (as above).

For a guidance to know “the correct procedure for giving Talaq (brief)” & “Islamic Divorce procedure in the light of the Qur’an and Sunnah (full)” please see the link below.

Please read the PDF Article below to understand the system of "Islamic Divorce procedure in the light of the Qur'an and Sunnah" (8 pages)

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