Woman in Islamic Shari‘ah
7. Concerning divorce
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takes into account the fact that anger never lasts —
tempers necessarily cool down after some time —
and that those who feel like divorcing their wives in
a fit of anger will certainly repent their emotional
outburst and will wish to withdraw from the
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.
143. Qur’an, 2:229.
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 finalized. 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
