Marriage with Conditions for Divorce
Question:
if in the nikah (contract of marriage) a wife is given the right to divorce by the husband and the conditions are " husband gives the right of divorce to woman but in the presence of the head of the both families":
1) if a wife says talaq (words of divorce) to her husband BUT NOT in the presence of the family heads so would it count as a talaq? since the terms are not met?
2) are the rules of talaq the same for a man and woman? i.e iddah and remarrying after iddah?
3) mere saying talaq in joke (with no real intention and ignorance that in joke talaq counts) would it still count or not?
Answer:
Marriage is a legal contract and any extended conditions can be added to this contract as long as they do not void the very essence of the marriage contract.
Accordingly here is my answers to your questions:
1) if a wife says talaq (words of divorce) to her husband BUT NOT in the presence of the family heads so would it count as a talaq? since the terms are not met?
No it does not count as divorce because the condition of presence of parents is not met.
2) are the rules of talaq the same for a man and woman? i.e iddah and remarrying after iddah?
Iddah only applies to women and the whole idea is to make sure the woman is not pregnant. If the woman announces divorce based on the condition that has been added to the marriage contract then it needs to be established whether the woman is pregnant to avoid any confusions in the future. At the time of the revelation of the Qur'an, waiting during the Iddah period was the only way to establish this. At our time there are reliable medical tests that can establish this. One may choose to use these tests or to cosnider iddah (and of course if the law of the land requires the woman to observe iddah then that needs to be done to remain law obedient). The divorce becomes finalise after establishing that the woman is not pregnant.
3) mere saying talaq in joke (with no real intention and ignorance that in joke talaq counts) would it still count or not?
No it does not count as divorce, however joking about this matter should be avoided as it can cause mistreatment and misunderstanding of the law and the intentions of people.
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August 2013
if in the nikah (contract of marriage) a wife is given the right to divorce by the husband and the conditions are " husband gives the right of divorce to woman but in the presence of the head of the both families":
1) if a wife says talaq (words of divorce) to her husband BUT NOT in the presence of the family heads so would it count as a talaq? since the terms are not met?
2) are the rules of talaq the same for a man and woman? i.e iddah and remarrying after iddah?
3) mere saying talaq in joke (with no real intention and ignorance that in joke talaq counts) would it still count or not?
Answer:
Marriage is a legal contract and any extended conditions can be added to this contract as long as they do not void the very essence of the marriage contract.
Accordingly here is my answers to your questions:
1) if a wife says talaq (words of divorce) to her husband BUT NOT in the presence of the family heads so would it count as a talaq? since the terms are not met?
No it does not count as divorce because the condition of presence of parents is not met.
2) are the rules of talaq the same for a man and woman? i.e iddah and remarrying after iddah?
Iddah only applies to women and the whole idea is to make sure the woman is not pregnant. If the woman announces divorce based on the condition that has been added to the marriage contract then it needs to be established whether the woman is pregnant to avoid any confusions in the future. At the time of the revelation of the Qur'an, waiting during the Iddah period was the only way to establish this. At our time there are reliable medical tests that can establish this. One may choose to use these tests or to cosnider iddah (and of course if the law of the land requires the woman to observe iddah then that needs to be done to remain law obedient). The divorce becomes finalise after establishing that the woman is not pregnant.
3) mere saying talaq in joke (with no real intention and ignorance that in joke talaq counts) would it still count or not?
No it does not count as divorce, however joking about this matter should be avoided as it can cause mistreatment and misunderstanding of the law and the intentions of people.
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August 2013
