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Divorce Rights of Muslim Women in the Middle East
The Dissolution of Muslim Marriage Act, 1939 http://www.sudhirlaw.com/disomoma.htm 2) Grounds for decree for dissolution of marriage: A woman married under Muslim law shall be entitled to obtain a decree for the dissolution of her marriage on any one or more of the following grounds, namely: (i) that the whereabouts of the husband have not been known for a period of four years; (ii) that the husband has neglected or has failed to provide for her maintenance for a period of two years; (iii) that the husband has been sentenced to imprisonment for a period of seven years or upwards; (iv) that the husband has failed to perform, without reasonable cause, his marital obligations for a period of three years ; (v) that the husband was impotent at the time of the marriage and continues to be so; (vi) that the husband has been insane for a period of two years or is suffering from leprosy or a virulent venereal disease ; (vii) that she, having been given in marriage by her father or other guardian before she attained the age of fifteen years, repudiated the marriage before attaining the age of eighteen years : Provided that the marriage has not been consummated; (viii) that the husband treats her with cruelty, that is to say, - (a) habitually assaults her or makes her life miserable by cruelty of conduct even if such conduct does not amount to physical ill-treatment, or (b) associates with women of evil repute or leads an infamous life, or (c) attempts to force her to lead an immoral life, or (d) disposes of her property or prevents her exercising her legal rights over it, or (e) obstructs her in the observance of her religious profession or practice, or (f) if he has more wives than one, does not treat her equitably in accordance with the injunctions of the Quran;” The record set straight: Women in Islam have rights http://www.islamicity.com/mosque/w_islam/divorce.htm “Islam occupies the middle ground between Christianity and Judaism with respect to divorce. Marriage in Islam is a sanctified bond that should not be broken except for compelling reasons. Couples are instructed to pursue all possible remedies whenever their marriages are in danger. Divorce is not to be resorted to except when there is no other way out. In a nutshell, Islam recognizes divorce, yet it discourages it by all means. Let us focus on the recognition side first. Islam does recognize the right of both partners to end their matrimonial relationship. Islam gives the husband the right for Talaq (divorce). Moreover, Islam, unlike Judaism, grants the wife the right to dissolve the marriage through what is known as Khula'. 36 If the husband dissolves the marriage by divorcing his wife, he cannot retrieve any of the marriage gifts he has given her. The Quran explicitly prohibits the divorcing husbands from taking back their marriage gifts no matter how expensive or valuable these gifts might be: "But if you decide to take one wife in place of another, even if you had given the latter a whole treasure for dower, take not the least bit of it back; Would you take it by slander and a manifest wrong?" (Quran 4:20). In the case of the wife choosing to end the marriage, she may return the marriage gifts to her husband. Returning the marriage gifts in this case is a fair compensation for the husband who is keen to keep his wife while she chooses to leave him. The Quran has instructed Muslim men not to take back any of the gifts they have given to their wives except in the case of the wife choosing to dissolve the marriage: “It is not lawful for you (Men) to take back any of your gifts except when both parties fear that they would be unable to keep the limits ordained by Allah. There is no blame on either of them if she give something for her freedom. These are the limits ordained by Allah so do not transgress them” (Quran 2:229). Also, a woman came to the Prophet Muhammad seeking the dissolution of her marriage, she told the Prophet that she did not have any complaints against her husband’s character or manners. Her only problem was that she honestly did not like him to the extent of not being able to live with him any longer. The Prophet asked her: “Would you give him his garden (the marriage gift he had given her) back?” she said: “Yes”. The Prophet then instructed the man to take back his garden and accept the dissolution of the marriage (Bukhari). In some cases, A Muslim wife might be willing to keep her marriage but find herself obliged to claim for a divorce because of some compelling reasons such as: Cruelty of the husband, desertion without a reason, a husband not fulfilling his conjugal responsibilities, etc. In these cases the Muslim court dissolves the marriage. 37 In short, Islam has offered the Muslim woman some unequalled rights: she can end the marriage through Khula’ and she can sue for a divorce. A Muslim wife can never become chained by a recalcitrant husband. It was these rights that enticed Jewish women who lived in the early Islamic societies of the seventh century C.E. to seek to obtain bills of divorce from their Jewish husbands in Muslim courts. The Rabbis declared these bills null and void. In order to end this practice, the Rabbis gave new rights and privileges to Jewish women in an attempt to weaken the appeal of the Muslim courts. Jewish women living in Christian countries were not offered any similar privileges since the Roman law of divorce practiced there was no more attractive than the Jewish law. 38” Muslim Divorce and the 1996 Divorce Amendment Act http://www.derebus.org.za/archives/1999oct/articles/muslim.htm “Divorce (talaq) in a nutshell An Islamic marriage contract may be dissolved by the death of one of the spouses or by the act of divorce (talaq). While Islam disapproves of the notion of divorce, it is recognised as a necessary social evil and tolerated under certain circumstances. In general talaq, which literally means ‘to set free’, can take place by repudiation or legal process (this refers to a legal or judicial process in terms of MPL). A husband may pronounce divorce without specified reasons and in the absence of his wife. While the right to institute divorce is regarded as the unilateral right of the husband, he may delegate this right to his wife either as a condition of the marriage contract or at a later stage. The delegated divorce (talaq al-tafwid) is a typically female-instigated divorce but is underutilised for lack of awareness of its existence. There are also other less advantageous options of divorce available to her. An example of the latter would be khul’ (divorce by mutual agreement of the spouses). The delegated divorce offers women equal access to divorce in that it allows the wife to terminate her marriage in order to obtain her freedom expeditiously and without the intervention of any court and furthermore without having to relinquish her right to claim the full dower. However, if the wife asks for a khul’ she has to return all or part of her dower. Inability to ‘pay’ for her freedom often results in this form of divorce being of more theoretical than practical value (see 1998 (Aug) DR 31). Nonetheless in South Africa, as elsewhere, many Muslim women are unaware of these rights to initiate a divorce.” Your best source of ISLAM http://www.submission.org/noha.html “The concept of gender equality in Islam is stressed by the non-superiority of either sex over the other. It came at a time when it was necessary to elevate the demeaned status of women and grant them rights equal to those of men. The equality of women in Islam is evident by the unprecedented legal rights given to them under a monotheistic religion as defined in the Quoran. As one of many examples, consider the rights of women in marriage and divorce. Both men and women have equal rights to contract a marriage as well as to dissolve it. The precondition of marriage is merely the mutual agreement by both parties. And unlike Christianity, a woman in Islam can divorce her husband at any time if she feels that she has been dealt with unjustly or even if she is just unhappy with her spouse since marriage is based upon mutual responsibilities toward each other. Islam has also ensured the woman’s right to remarry pending a three month refrainment period.” There are too many who swallow hook, line and sinker, whatever a person whom they esteem tells them (Romans 16:17-18). Unfortunately, what men say (even those men who have earned our trust in the past) is not always accurate (Romans 3:4)! Why not put all of our trust in Jesus? The Lord told the unbelieving Jews: “I receive not honour from men. But I know you, that ye have not the love of God in you. I am come in my Father’s name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive. How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only?” (John 5:41-44; cf. Proverbs 3:5-6). Jesus’ words, “whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery” could not be any simpler to understand. Unrevealed and unjust human scenarios cannot amend the truth of those words. Will you receive them (cf. Matthew 19:11)? - Jeff |
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