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WOMENS’ RIGHT TO DIVORCE IN
SHARIA LAW
HOW IT VIOLATES THE QURAN,
PROPHET AND JUSTICE
HASAN MAHMUD
hasan.mahmud@hotmail.com
“If our religious leader
didn't grant the divorce,
then under sharia I could
not remarry", she said.
Under sharia law her husband
had to consent to the
divorce-- even though he had
abandoned the family four
years earlier and married
another woman. The imam had
to “negotiate” with his
demand of $100,000 plus all
her jewellery in exchange of
his consent to end the
marriage bond. The best the
poor wife could do was to
borrow $5,000 to pay him and
agree to give up
child-support payments and
alimony, and not to take
legal action against him in
future. This time he was
generous to agree to release
her.
This is not centuries ago
but in recent time. Not in
the Middle East, Pakistan or
Somalia but in Canada. It
represents “A Muslim woman's
sharia ordeal” of centuries.[i]
Europe is not any better.[ii]
In UK the council in Leyton
has dealt with more than
7,000 divorce cases,
ninety-nine percent of which
were initiated by women
“seeking relief”. Parvin
Ali, founding director of
the Fatima Women's Network
in Leicester said, "There is
no outside monitoring, no
protection, no records kept,
no guarantee that justice
will prevail." Such dire
lack of accountability can
hardly be called a court,
let alone an Islamic one.
In Sharia Law only husbands
have the right of “Divorce”
that literally means
releasing an animal bound
with a rope. For a wife it
is a struggle in the court
through the law of “Khul”
which is – “For the
purpose of dissolving a
connubial connexion in lieu
of a compensation paid by
the wife to her husband out
of her property…….A release
for payment means separation
in return for remuneration
given to the husband….”.[iii]
Obviously this law has
historically been grave
injustice to women; we will
see some documents from 17th
century Sharia Courts later.
It does not take a rocket
scientist to realize how
much agony and torture she
goes through before she
wants to break her home. Few
years ago when the Egyptian
government passed a law that
if a wife was willing to pay
the remaining of bride-money
the court could dissolve the
marriage without husbands’
consent. In only six working
days a staggering number of
3000 women applied in Cairo
alone.
Believers willingly follow
religious laws even if they
suffer. That is why call of
justice and humanity is not
enough to end violation of
Human Rights; we need to
bring up a better
explanation from the same
religion. It is amazing to
see that Prophet gave women
absolute right of ending
unwanted marriage even if it
went against his plead and
even if the husband was a
loving one. Let us look into
this:-
Narrated Ibn 'Abbas:
Barira's husband was a slave
called Mughith, as if I am
seeing him now, going behind
Barira and weeping with his
tears flowing down his
beard. The Prophet said to
'Abbas, "O ‘Abbas! are you
not astonished at the love
of Mughith for Barira and
the hatred of Barira for
Mughith?" The Prophet then
said to Barira, "Why don't
you return to him?" She
said, "O Allah's Apostle! Do
you order me to do so?" He
said, "No, I only intercede
for him." She said, "I am
not in need of him."[iv]
It cannot be clearer. On the
other hand we did not find a
single case where Prophet
forced a wife to stay in an
unhappy marriage. A girl
reported to Prophet that her
father had forced her into a
marriage without her
consent. The Prophet in
clear words gave her the
independent and absolute
right to continue or end the
marriage. Sahi Ibn Majah
XXXX
Even Prophet’s wives had the
right to leave him without
any middle-man:-
Narrated 'Aisha: Allah's
Apostle gave us the option
(to remain with him or to be
divorced) and we selected
Allah and His Apostle . So,
giving us that option was
not regarded as divorce.[v]
Narrated 'Ikrima: The sister
of 'Abdullah bin Ubai
narrated (the above
narration, 197) with the
addition that the Prophet
said to Thabit's wife, "Will
you return his garden?" She
said, "Yes," and returned
it, and (then) the Prophet
ordered Thabit to divorce
her……. Narrated Ibn 'Abbas:
The wife of Thabit bin Qais
came to Allah's Apostle and
said, "O Allah's Apostle! I
do not blame Thabit for any
defects in his character or
his religion, but I cannot
endure to live with him." On
that Allah's Apostle said,
"Will you return his garden
to him?" She said, "Yes."[vi].
The Quran nowhere says that
women do not have the right
to divorce. Rather it
instructs men to release
wives whenever they want: -
“Ye are forbidden to
inherit women against their
will. Nor should ye treat
them with harshness, that ye
may take away part of the
dower ye have given them, -
except where they have been
guilty of open lewdness”.[vii]
The word “inherit” does not
mean inheriting women like
property. It was a cultural
linguistic expression of
that desert society where
only slaves could be
inherited. “Dower” (Bride
Money) cannot be given to
anyone except wives. That is
why many Islamic scholars
including leaders of Sharia
Law agree that this verse
talks about wives.[viii]
Many of them translate the
verse as: - ‘It is not
lawful for you to try to
hold your wives against
their will”[ix]
or “it is not lawful for you
to take women as heritage
against (their) will”.[x]
Still we see Sharia Law
stipulating – “A husband has
the authority to take his
wife back after one or two
divorces, even if she does
not want to come back”.[xi]
This is the attitude of
Sharia Law to women. These
laws, established as Allah’s
Law, are not only torture on
Muslim women but also
upfront violation of the
Quran and Prophet.
There is another dimension
of Khul. If the husband
applies his authority of
instant divorce he does not
have to pay alimony. If he
divorces in three
progressive steps he has to
pay the unpaid amount of
Bride Money, child-support
and alimony (wife-support).
So he tortures the wife
to push her to initiate Khul
so that he doesn’t have to
pay Bride Money,
child-support and alimony
rather he gets money. It
happens today and it
historically happened in
past Sharia courts in Muslim
Khelafat.[xii]
Many court cases are
recorded to show that the
Sharia courts also developed
a form for the wife to sign
giving up child-support and
alimony in addition to more
money. This is exactly as it
happens even today to Muslim
women in Muslim world and
even in the West.
It is nothing but mockery to
justice and Islam. Muslim
women believe in these laws
as Allah’s Law, submit
willingly and unnecessarily
suffer so much. Muslim
societies will never
progress unless they realize
the anti-Islamic spirit and
contents of Sharia Law and
abandon them. In this case
it is possible by following
the Quran and Prophet.
[iii]
Shafi’i law Reliance
of the Traveler –
n.5.0, Hanafi Law
Hedaya page 112,
Codified Islami Law
Vol 1
Law#355,
Sharia the Islamic
Law – Dr. Abdur
Rahman Doi page 192
etc.
[vii]
Yusuf Ali– 4:19 -
http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/quran/004.qmt.html
[ix]
http://www.crescentlife.com/thisthat/feminist%20muslims/4_34.htm
[xi]
Codified Islamic Law
Vol 1, Law # 352
[xii]
Women, the Family
and Divorce Laws in
Islamic History –
Amira El Azhary
Sonbol