The procedure of divorce in Islam,
- Initiation
- Efforts to Reconciliation
- Breakup
Initiation: This is the phase where the Talaq procedure is started. The Sunni Scholars argue that Talaqs takes effects when the husband says Talaq one time to the wife being there. The Shia Scholars describe the condition in which one should inform to public when he is going to perform divorce. They believe that there is not any single ayah (verse) about this condition of Talaq in Holy Quran and it is just un-Islamic.
Reconciliation: Scholars of both factions the Shias and The Sunnis agree that couple should try to compromise during the waiting period with the help of pacifist from each family. The waiting period is thought as main source for engaging before the divorce happens. If they break the waiting period after slotting in sexual relations, they are thought to have been settled and the divorce is cancelled.
According to Quran,
And if you fright a break between the two, then choose judge from his people and a judge from her people; if they both want conformity, God will change harmony between them, surely God is Knowing, Aware.
(Chapter: 4. Verse: 35)
O you the eminent and selected Servant of Allah! (tell about the procedural system) when you people, the husbands, state decision of divorcing your such wives with whom you had kept close matrimonial relations, for cancelling Nikah then divorce your wives for their own superseding time-interval (which is known to the respective husband; and this statement will openly hang the odd right/permission approved by Nikah) and you husbands count down the superseding time period. There is no arbitrating period which husbands require to count for such wives whom divorce is given without having close relationship that is sexual interaction and they can be honorably seen off instantaneously to her parent’s house or to the one/place where she was a maid-servant.
(Chapter: 33. Verse: 49)
Divorce and including superseding time is a solemn matter and you people, the divorcing husbands, stay careful, vigilant, and afraid of Allah your Sustainer Lord. You should not expel your divorcee wives during this waiting period from their homes.
So, anyone can notice that how Quran insists on the reconciliation of spouses in case of disputes and Talaqs between them.
Breakup: After the accomplishment of Talaqs process, the husbands are not responsible for their divorced wives expenditures. They become Na-Mahram to each other at this stage. They have to adopt Hijaab from one another. Shia scholars understand it as last stage of break up if there are two eye-witnesses present there at the time of completion of Talaq.
Quran Says,
“So when they have accomplished their agreed time, then keep them with sympathy or break them up with kindness, and call to eye-witnesses, two men of justice from among you, and give standing proof for God. With that is admonished he who believes in God and the latter day; and whoever is careful of (his duty to) God, He will make for him an outlet”
(Chapter: 65. Verse: 2)
Aftermath: Third Talaq makes the woman haraam for his husband. In this way she cannot perform sexual activity as well as other activities as a wife with her ex husband. Also men are responsible of providing expenses to his divorced wives for bringing up of his children if she agrees.
Modern Scholars,
- Abdul Wahaab Najdi
- Sir Syed Ahmad Khan
- Dr. Sir Muhammad Iqbal
Abdul Wahaab Najdi
Abdul Wahaab Najdi is the founder of Wahabi group in Muslims. He did not write books but started a moment for the renaissance of Islam. He appeared in Saudi Arabia and strictly stopped the Muslims of Saudi Arabia from being ignorant about such matters like Talaq e Salasa. His followers in India and Pakistan are called Ehl-e-Hadith. Ehl e Hadith means the followers of Hadith (a modern Muslims sect) believe that three Talaqs at the spot are not legal.
Sir Syed Ahmad Khan
The modern Muslim scholar from India happened to be the founder of Muslim Modernism in India also rejected the idea of triple Talaq at the spot. He reestablished the old fashion which was revealed in Quran exactly. Sir Syed Ahmad Khan also wrote that three Talaq in one sitting is the direct human rights violation. Men don’t have the superiority over women in any sense, he believed. He gives the equal rights to woman using the terminology of Quran and sets a lot of Quranic verses in favor of his argument.
Dr. Sir Muhammad Iqbal
The great Muslim Philosopher, the founder of the Ideology of Pakistan Sir Dr. Muhammad Iqbal also argues against three Talaqs in one sitting and provides rich counter arguments in favor of his view.
He writes in his most famous lectures named “The reconstruction of religious thought in Islam”,
“You will, I think, remind me here of the Turkish poet Êiya whom I quoted a moment ago, and ask whether the equality of man and woman demanded by him, equality, that is to say, in point of divorce, separation, and inheritance, is possible according to Muhammadan Law. I do not know whether the awakening of women in Turkey has created demands which cannot be met with without a fresh interpretation of foundational principles. In the Punjab, as everybody knows, there have been cases in which Muslim women wishing to get rid of undesirable husbands have been driven to apostasy”
(Chapter 6, The reconstruction of religious thought in Islam)
There is a long list of contemporary Muslim Scholars such as, Allama Inayatullah Al-Mashriqi, Ghulam Ahmad Parvez and many more, who regret the orthodox, non Islamic divorce system which was made in far past but very latter, after the life of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)