Reply to Does ISLAM allow divorce? If so, under what conditions?

Forum Index » Religion

Reply to "Does ISLAM allow divorce? If so, under what conditions?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]
If you are seeking that linear equality in divorce rules of Islam, which is a western mindset, you will not find it. I think Islam is not interested in promoting this kind of linear equality; it is interested in promoting justice. Justice is deemed to be far more important and fair than linear equality because linear equality does not take into account the differences between men and women and their experiences.[/quote]
Justice is subjective. It is in the eye of the beholder.  You may think that whoever spends more money should have more rights. Someone else may disagree.   The differences between men and women and their experiences are not cut anywhere as clearly as you present. Likewise, the Islamic setup maybe very fair to one woman and completely unfair to another.

[quote=Anonymous]
The guidelines for divorce for men are spelled out more in the interest and for the protection of women. Divorce on a woman may be particularly hard and in fact, more hard for her than for the man considering she may not be able to support herself, earn the same wages even if she did work, have difficulty caring for children. As such, God in the Quran has said divorce is detestable to Him, but if man still insists of getting divorced, He outlines very clear rules to abide by so as to ensure the woman is treated fairly. [/quote]
That's subjective.  The Islamic rules for husband-initiated divorces, in my opinion, are very liberal, and his financial obligations after the divorce are minimal with regard to the wife (not the children). Recall that there is no marital property in Islam, and a home-maker wife does not accrue any claim to the family assets accumulated during the marriage by the breadwinner husband. He owes her maintenance and shelter while married, and nothing else.

[quote=Anonymous]
Divorce is not and should not be hard to get for a woman in Islam. Don't look to practice of Muslim countries as evidence of what Islam truly permits because so many people and countries have deviated far from Islam after Prophet Muhammad died.  [/quote]
I ask, in all honesty, what DO you look at? You know very well that the Quran is silent on the subject of women-initiated divorces.  What exactly do you look at as evidence on how easy or hard divorce should be for women in Islam? What are your sources?

[quote=Anonymous]
Divorce laws, if not addressed as much for women in the Quran, or if they appear to be more rigid for women, is also to protect the woman as well as the man's interest. If divorce were made easy for women, it may be a right that is exercised too liberally, too frivolously and this may present a hardship to men. Remember the man must pay for the entire wedding, the mahr, the care of the woman, all his children, and he has many other financial obligations that the woman does not have in Islam. Thus, divorce is absolutely allowed for women, but not to be taken lightly.[/quote]
I find that to be a very paternalistic argument - divorces for women must not be too easy or they'll use this right frivolously.  No one seems to be fearful of that for men.  So it seems that you don't have as much faith in the woman's judgment as you do in man's.

The financial hardship you speak of can be mitigated very easily by making divorces for women who repay the dowry back to the husband available on demand (as in fact Muhammad Asad proposes in "This Law of Ours"), but the fact of the matter is that even khul can be very difficult to obtain for women, and is in fact not available on demand.  Plus mahrs aren't always high, weddings aren't always elaborate, and there is no law that they should be.  A man's right to divorce at will is not dependent upon having spent X for the dowry and the wedding. They stand regardless of how much or how little he spends, or how much the wife has contributed financially to the household. [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics