Concerning Divorce
Two Ways of Divorcing
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position it has put them in. It also takes into account
the fact that divorce is a not a simple matter: it
amounts to the breaking up of the home and
destroying the children’s future. It is only when
tempers have cooled down that the dire
consequences of divorce are realized, and the
necessity to revoke the decision becomes clear.
When a man marries a woman, he has to say only
once that he accepts her as his spouse. But for
divorce, the Qur’an enjoins a three month period for
it to be formalized. That is, for marriage, one
utterance is enough, but for a divorce to be
finalized, three utterances are required, between
which a long gap has been prescribed by the
shari‘ah.
The purpose of this gap is to give the
husband sufficient time to revise his decision, and
to consult the well-wishers around him. It also
allows time for relatives to intervene in the hopes of
persuading both husband and wife to avoid a
divorce. Without this gap, none of these things
could be achieved. That is why divorce proceedings
have to be spread out over a long period of time.
