Aqsa

Those people who have nothing else to do in life and consider themselves to be a “criticâ€? of Islam make tall claims about their knowledge of the Quran and the try portraying divorce in Islam as nothing but a joke! The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Among lawful things, divorce is most hated by Allah.” (Reported by Abu Dawud)

Allah Almighty says, “…And consort with them in kindness, for if you dislike them, it may be that you dislike something in which Allah has placed much good.” (4: 19) In the words of Sheik Yusuf Al-Qaradawi in his well-known book, The Lawful and the Prohibited in Islam: “A husband must be patient with his wife if he sees something in her that he disapproves and dislikes. He should recognize that he is dealing with a human being with natural imperfections, and he should balance her good qualities with her failings. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Let a believing man not dislike a believing woman. If something in her is displeasing to him, another trait may be pleasing.â€? At the same time Allah asked the believing women to please her husband in the best possible manner.

The Qur’an admonishes those men who oppress or ill-treat women: O you who believe! You are forbidden to inherit women against their will. Nor should you treat them with harshness, that you may take away part of the dowry you have given them - except when they have become guilty of open lewdness. On the contrary live with them on a footing of kindness and equity. If you take a dislike to them, it may be that you dislike something and Allah will bring about through it a great deal of good. (4:19)

Islam has given the liberty to a man and a woman to divorce if nothing works out. Divorce is the nothing but the last resort for a Muslim man and a Muslim woman. Though it is quite easy to divorce in an Islamic way but there’s more to divorce then just uttering a few words. All the possible options are tried before taking the big decision. It’s not an easy decision and I haven’t seen people around me getting divorced. Divorce is an option for those who are sure that parting is a better idea than staying together. If both husband and wife decide to get divorced then they are again asked to reconsider their decision. No lawyers or anything is required to make things worse! When they finally agree upon divorcing each other, the waiting period begins. The waiting period lasts for three menstrual cycles to ensure the woman is not pregnant. This period gives some time to the couple to think about what they are doing and if this is what they really want to do. If the woman turns out to be pregnant then it’s the responsibility of the husband to feed and clothe the wife till she delivers. Even if she is not pregnant then too the husband is supposed to feed and clothe her till the waiting period lasts. Muslim women are gifted with all these rights and what is propagated is entirely antagonistic to what the real truth is.

Even though taking divorce is so simple for Muslims but surprisingly Muslims have low divorce rates!

Check World stats on divorce.

Muslims have undoubtedly a low divorce rate, mashaAllah! Despite the simple procedure! It can in no way be compared to the kind of ugly battles that are fought on a daily bases in court rooms around the world. In conclusion, I hope this article helped to clear up the distorted/clichéd image of divorce in Islam to some extent. 

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 30th, 2007 at 8:36 am and is filed under being a woman, islaam and muslims. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.