The Kerala high court’s ruling earlier this week that a Muslim woman has the ability to dissolve her nikah independently and does not necessarily need her husband’s permission has been challenged by the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB).
In a statement, Maulana Khalid Saifullah Rehmani, the general secretary of the AIMPLB, claimed that the HC in this specific case did not interpret the norms of the Sharia but instead attempted to legislate over them, which the board found unacceptable.
According to Rehmani, there are only four talaq options in Islam. One is triple talaq where the husband has the right to announce divorce. The second is khula, in which the wife typically initiates the divorce and it becomes final once the husband consents.
The third is talaq-e-tafweez (delegated divorce), in which the future wife specifies in the nikahnama (marriage contract) that she will be permitted to get a talaq without her husband’s approval in the event that he abuses her inhumanely and/or tortures her physically and/or mentally. According to Rehmani, the qazi/court will hear the fourth option.
The AIMPLB’s response follows the High Court’s denial of a husband’s review petition challenging the divorce his wife received under the Dissolution of Muslim Marriages Act, of 1939.
The right of a Muslim wife to end the marriage was upheld by a division bench of Justices A Muhamed Mustaque and CD Dias, who ruled that this was in conformity with the Quran and could not be impacted by her husband’s decision to accept or reject the move. The HC also declared that it would not budge in response to the views of the Islamic clergy, who lack any legal education.
The court quoted Chapter 2, verse 229 of the Quran as a scripture that clearly states that a Muslim wife has the right to dissolve her marriage.
The petitioner-husband had argued that while a Muslim woman had the right to request a divorce, she did not possess the same absolute authority to say “khula” as her counterpart did to pronounce “talaq.”
News Mania Desk
