Woman in Islamic Shari‘ah
7. Concerning divorce
~ 149 ~
A victim of this unnatural state of affairs was Lord
Bertrand Russell, one of the most intelligent and
outstanding intellectuals of his time. Soon after his
marriage, he discovered that his wife no longer
inspired any feelings of love in him. Although
realizing this incompatibility, he did not seek an
immediate separation. In spite of severe mental
torture he tried to bear with this situation for ten
years. He refers to this period as one of “darkest
despair.” Finally he had to separate and remarry,
but he was not satisfied even with the second match
and he married for a third time. Two divorces were
a costly bargain. According to English law, the
amount of alimony and maintenance he had to pay
his wives upset him greatly. He writes in his
Autobiography:
... the financial burden was heavy and rather
disturbing: I had given Pounds 10,000 of my
Nobel Prize cheque for a little more than
Pounds 11,000 to my third wife, and I was
now paying alimony to her and to my second
wife as well as paying for the education of my
younger son. Added to this, there were heavy
expenses in connection with my elder son’s
