Iddah After Separation
Question:
I am asking this question because I need clarification on the concept of Iddat after divorce. My sister was married for a year and a half, and for the past 8 months she has not been with her husband. Early this year in January her husband decided that since his mother cannot accept his wife, so he is going to divorce her. They were happy together before. Now that he has decided to separate he still has not sent the final divorce papers. First of all, is this divorce justified by religion, where a mother in law dictates that her son divorce his wife for no apparent reason? And does she still need to observe the 3 month iddat once the final papers come, specially since the decision was made in January, and she has still not received the papers?
Answer:
The primary reason for Iddah is to determine whether the woman is pregnant or not. On this basis, if the couple have been completely (geographically) separated in entirety for such a long time you mentioned, then in my understanding there is no need to keep Iddah. Of course if the law of the land requires the Iddah to be kept even in this situation then that law needs to be observed, obviously this would be a different story. There can also be social considerations, where the society expects the woman to observe Iddah even in this situation. Not meeting these expectations could complicate the issue and the woman might find it easier just to comply with these expectations. This again is a different story (i.e. not related to Shari'ah).
As for whether a divorce dictated by the mother in law is valid or not, we need to distinguish between the law and the morals of the story. By the law, when the husband declares divorce then that is valid and the procedures in accordance to the Shri’ah need to be in place. It does not matter what the motivation of the husband was. However morally the mother in law has no right to interfere and the husband needs to make sure that he has valid and just reasons for the divorce.
In view of the answer to your first question I don’t think your third question applies any more.
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Related topics:
Iddah (waiting time after declaration of divorce)
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March 2013
I am asking this question because I need clarification on the concept of Iddat after divorce. My sister was married for a year and a half, and for the past 8 months she has not been with her husband. Early this year in January her husband decided that since his mother cannot accept his wife, so he is going to divorce her. They were happy together before. Now that he has decided to separate he still has not sent the final divorce papers. First of all, is this divorce justified by religion, where a mother in law dictates that her son divorce his wife for no apparent reason? And does she still need to observe the 3 month iddat once the final papers come, specially since the decision was made in January, and she has still not received the papers?
Answer:
The primary reason for Iddah is to determine whether the woman is pregnant or not. On this basis, if the couple have been completely (geographically) separated in entirety for such a long time you mentioned, then in my understanding there is no need to keep Iddah. Of course if the law of the land requires the Iddah to be kept even in this situation then that law needs to be observed, obviously this would be a different story. There can also be social considerations, where the society expects the woman to observe Iddah even in this situation. Not meeting these expectations could complicate the issue and the woman might find it easier just to comply with these expectations. This again is a different story (i.e. not related to Shari'ah).
As for whether a divorce dictated by the mother in law is valid or not, we need to distinguish between the law and the morals of the story. By the law, when the husband declares divorce then that is valid and the procedures in accordance to the Shri’ah need to be in place. It does not matter what the motivation of the husband was. However morally the mother in law has no right to interfere and the husband needs to make sure that he has valid and just reasons for the divorce.
In view of the answer to your first question I don’t think your third question applies any more.
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Related topics:
Iddah (waiting time after declaration of divorce)
-----------------
March 2013