Woman in Islamic Shari‘ah
7. Concerning divorce
~ 148 ~
bid to make a free society, their efforts culminated
in the creation of a permissive society. Affairs
between men and women knew no limits and this
had the effect of weakening the marriage bond.
Men and women were no more husbands and
wives. In the words of the Prophet, they became
sensual, pleasure-seeking people. This state of
affairs was given a boost by industrialization, as a
woman could easily procure an independent
livelihood for herself. This had never before been
possible. Because of this, she has frequently refused
to live under the guardianship of men which, in
consequence has created a large number of social
problems leading to greatly increased rates of
divorce.
The western philosophers who wanted to check
divorce advocated legal curbs upon men, which
would legally bind them to provide maintenance to
the wife after the divorce. This maintenance sum
was fixed according to western living standards, so
that, in most cases, divorce meant that the man had
to part with a fair amount of his hard earned money
for the whole of the rest of his life.
