Divorce
(Muhammad Latif Chaudhery, Lahore)
• A wedlock takes place with
the mutual consent of husband and wife. It cannot therefore be terminated
unilaterally by either of them. Should any one of the two feel dissatisfied he
has to go to the court of law (4:35) after a cooling-off period of four months
(2:226)
Court shall appoint an arbitrator from his family and an arbitrator from her
family; if they decide to reconcile, GOD will help them get together(4:35) .
• If they still insist on divorce, then the wife and husband must remain
together in the same home during the ‘interim-period.’ (65:1)
• The interim period required is three menstruation periods. The interim for
women who no longer menstruate is three months. The interim for pregnant women
is until they deliver. There is no interim if the couple has never had
intercourse with each other. (2:228, 65:4, 33:49)
• If the couple reconcile, then divorce may be retracted and cancelled at any
point during the interim period. (2:229)
• If the couple still wishes to follow through with the divorce after the end of
the interim period, then two witnesses are required to complete the process.
(65:2)