New Delhi: Confusion over the procedure, status, and binding nature of ‘triple talaq’ pronouncement is a common question brought before Islamic authorities. Various clerics believe that due to lack of knowledge and right interpretation, the correct divorce procedure is not being followed.
Islamic scholar Shehzad Saleem brings to fore the plight of the Muslim women at the hands of misinterpreters of the Quran. He explains the right procedure of divorce as enshrined by Sharia.
“First of all, divorce is not valid if it is given through phone, email, WhatsApp and Skype. If a husband has decided to divorce his wife, he should wait until she has completed her menstrual cycle and then desisting from any further carnal relationship, he should utter the divorce sentence just once. The wife, after she has been divorced in this way, must stay in her husband’s house for a period of three menstrual cycles. This period is called ‘iddat’ (waiting or parting). For a pregnant woman, this period is up to the birth of the child, while for a newly married couple who have had no contact, divorce does not entail any period of ‘iddat’ for the wife,” Saleem says.
“If after the period of ‘iddat’, a man is still firm in his stance, his wife shall be considered as separated permanently. She is now a free woman and if she wishes to marry some other person, she has all the right to do so and must not be inhibited in any way. If circumstances change, she can even remarry her former husband,” he adds.
The Quran stresses that in case the husband revokes his decision during the ‘iddat’ period, there is no need for remarriage. The two shall be considered as husband and wife once again.
Saleem says that if after annulment of this divorce, due to some reason, the untoward situation arises a second time that the husband intends to divorce his wife, the Quran explains that the husband can exercise his right of divorce for the second time as well.
He should pronounce just one ‘talaq’ sentence to repudiate his wife. Again, the post-divorce period shall be observed in the manner just described.
“Once again, if the husband wishes, he has the chance to revise his decision during the period of ‘iddat,’ in which case the divorce shall be considered null and void and the two shall once again become husband and wife. If, unfortunately, for the third time, the situation arises that divorce becomes inevitable, the Quran says that a husband can exercise his right for the third time as well and pronounce the divorce sentence. However, this time the wife shall be permanently separated from him. After divorcing his wife for the third time, he cannot remarry her now, unless and until the wife marries some other person and owing to some reason gets divorced from him — not under a planned strategy, but on account of naturally arisen circumstances,” he explains.
The last measure is meant to prevent this affair from becoming mere childplay.
