. DIVORCE

Islam occupies the middle groundbetween Christianity and Judaism with respect to divorce. Marriage in Islam isa sanctified bond that should not be broken except for compelling reasons.Couples are instructed to pursue all possible remedies whenever their marriagesare in danger. Divorce is not to be resorted to except when there is no otherway out.

In a nutshell, Islam recognizesdivorce, yet it discourages it by all means. Let us focus on the recognitionside first. Islam does recognize the right of both partners to end theirmatrimonial relationship. Islam gives the husband the right for Talaq(divorce). Moreover, Islam, unlike Judaism, grants the wife the right todissolve the marriage through what is known as Khula'.

If the husband dissolves the marriage by divorcing his wife, he cannot retrieve any of the marriage gifts he has given her. The Quran explicitly prohibits the divorcing husbands from taking back their marriage gifts no matter how expensive or valuable these gifts might be:

"But if you decide to take one wife in place of another, even if you had given the latter a whole treasure for dower, take not the least bit of it back; Would you take it by slander and a manifest wrong?" (4:20).

In the case of the wife choosing toend the marriage, she may return the marriage gifts to her husband. Returningthe marriage gifts in this case is a fair compensation for the husband who iskeen to keep his wife while she chooses to leave him. The Quran has instructedMuslim men not to take back any of the gifts they have given to their wivesexcept in the case of the wife choosing to dissolve the marriage:

"It is not lawful for you (Men) to take back any of your gifts except when both parties fear that they would be unable to keep the limits ordained by Allah. There is no blame on either of them if she give something for her freedom. These are the limits ordained by Allah so do not transgress them" (2:229).

Also, a woman came to the ProphetMuhammad seeking the dissolution of her marriage, she told the Prophet that shedid not have any complaints against her husband's character or manners. Heronly problem was that she honestly did not like him to the extent of not beingable to live with him any longer. The Prophet asked her: "Would you givehim his garden (the marriage gift he had given her) back?" she said:"Yes". The Prophet then instructed the man to take back his gardenand accept the dissolution of the marriage (Bukhari).

In some cases, A Muslim wife might bewilling to keep her marriage but find herself obliged to claim for a divorcebecause of some compelling reasons such as: Cruelty of the husband, desertionwithout a reason, a husband not fulfilling his conjugal responsibilities, etc.In these cases the Muslim court dissolves the marriage.

In short, Islam has offered the Muslimwoman some unequalled rights: she can end the marriage through Khula' and shecan sue for a divorce. A Muslim wife can never become chained by a recalcitranthusband. It was these rights that enticed Jewish women who lived in the earlyIslamic societies of the seventh century C.E. to seek to obtain bills ofdivorce from their Jewish husbands in Muslim courts.

the Rabbis gave new rights andprivileges to Jewish women in an attempt to weaken the appeal of the Muslimcourts. Jewish women living in Christian countries were not offered any similarprivileges since the Roman law of divorce practiced there was no moreattractive than the Jewish law.

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