Valid Forms of Divorce Under Muslim Law

There are different kinds of forms and ways through which the marriage can be dissolved under Muslim Law.

Divorce By Wife

Talaq-e-Tafweez

    Here in this form of divorce the husband has the right to delegate the power to divorce to the wife, for a valid delegation the husband must be of sound mind and also above 18 years of age.

Talaq-e-Tafweez is also like an agreement entered between the wife and husband either before marriage or after marriage. Where in the agreement there might be a few terms which the wife expect the husband to follow. If the terms of an agreement are not fulfilled the wife can ask for a divorce. In this case the rights of the husband to divorce his wife will still exist and the husband won’t be deprived of the same.

Divorce By Husband

Ahsan

It is a form of muslim divorce where the husband pronounces his intention to not have sexual intercourse with his wife, after the pronouncement of the same the wife will observe iddat where they woman should not marry another man in order to remove any doubts regarding the paternity of the child, the husband too should not indulge in any from of sexual intercourse with his wife after the pronouncement.

The same can be pronounced even when the women are menstruating but at the same time marriage must not be consummated between the parties.

Ahsan is said to be one of the most approved forms of divorce or talaq under muslim law.

Talaq-ul-Biddat

Talaq-ul-Biddat is said to be one of the most disapproved and sinful form of divorce under muslim law.

Talaq-ul-Biddat is the practice of pronouncing talaq three times by doing which the wife is divorced immediately. This method of divorced is practiced only by the Sunni muslim where as Shia and Maliks are against the same. The parties can re marry only after the female partner practice nikah halala, under which she has to marry another man and get divorced from him.

This kind of divorce is unconstitutional in India. Eg: Shayara Bano v. Union of India and Others.

Hasan

Hasan is a less approved form of talaq among the muslim.

In this form of divorce the word talaq is to be pronounced three times simultaneously. If the wife has not crossed the age of menstruation in that case it should be made in the three states of purity, if the wife has crossed the age of menstruation pronouncement must be made with 30 days of interval. While the three pronouncement is being made with uniform interval, no sexual intercourse should take place between them, if it does then the divorce is said to be revoked. After the completion of iddat the divorce becomes irrevocable.

Illa

In this form of divorce the husband has the right to pronounce that he would not indulge in sexual intercourse with his wife. Again, during this period, the wife needs to observe iddat, if the husband has sexual intercourse with his wife during this period, then the Illa is revoked. Once the period of Illa is over the divorce becomes irrevocable.

Zihar

Zihar is a similar form of divorce to Illa. In this form of divorce the husband is said to compare his wife with other women who comes under the prohibited degree of relationship and pronounces that his wife is like a mother or a sister to him. In order to perform the Zihar form of divorce the husband must be of sound mind and above the age of eighteen years.

The wife has the right to seek judicial remedies but not judicial divorce. In order to revoke this divorce, the husband should perform acts such as performing two months fast, feeding sixty people and freeing a slave.

The practice of Zihar is no longer in practice.

Divorce By Mutual Consent

Khula

Khula is a form of divorce where the parties mutually agree to divorce, here the wife is said to pay some amount of consideration from her property to her husband for her release and freedom. Wife releases Mehr and other rights for the benefit of her husband. Therefore, we can say that in this case the divorce I literally being purchased by the woman from her husband. Here the wife put forth the price or offer for the divorce which is accepted by the husband. The wife is required to observe iddat after Khula.

Mubarat

Mubarat means to discharge parties from marital rights, here the parties to marriage divorce with mutual consent in order to become free from one another. There is an offer from one of the parties and the same is accepted by the other party (procedures are same as Khula), women are required to observe iddat after Mubarat.