2-229 Divorce may be (pronounced) twice; then keep (them) in good fellowship or let (them) go with kindness.a And it is not lawful for you to take any part of what you have given them,b unless both fear that they cannot keep within the limits of Allah. Then if you fear that they cannot keep within the limits of Allah, there is no blame on them for what she gives up to become free thereby.c These are the limits of Allah, so exceed them not; and whoever exceeds the limits of Allah, these are the wrongdoers.d
ٱلطَّلَـٰقُ مَرَّتَانِۖ فَإِمۡسَاكُۢ بِمَعۡرُوفٍ أَوۡ تَسۡرِيحُۢ بِإِحۡسَـٰنٍ۬ۗ وَلَا يَحِلُّ لَڪُمۡ أَن تَأۡخُذُواْ مِمَّآ ءَاتَيۡتُمُوهُنَّ شَيۡـًٔا إِلَّآ أَن يَخَافَآ أَلَّا يُقِيمَا حُدُودَ ٱللَّهِۖ فَإِنۡ خِفۡتُمۡ أَلَّا يُقِيمَا حُدُودَ ٱللَّهِ فَلَا جُنَاحَ عَلَيۡہِمَا فِيمَا ٱفۡتَدَتۡ بِهِۦۗ تِلۡكَ حُدُودُ ٱللَّهِ فَلَا تَعۡتَدُوهَاۚ وَمَن يَتَعَدَّ حُدُودَ ٱللَّهِ فَأُوْلَـٰٓٮِٕكَ هُمُ ٱلظَّـٰلِمُونَ (٢٢٩)
229a: إِمۡسَاكُۢ – means to keep a relationship with a thing and to safeguard it (R).
تَسۡرِيحُۢ – سرح is to free the camel to graze. And to release someone from the marriage contract is تَسۡرِيح (R). It also occurs in: حِينَ تَسۡرَحُونَ (when you send them out (to pasture)).
Divorce is twice: According to the commentators, the divorce mentioned here is the one referred in the previous verse where the husband has the right to take the wife back in the waiting period. The terminological name for it is طلاق رجعی ۔ But the fact is that the Quran does not mention any other kind of divorce, and neither in the Quran nor in the Hadith is there any injunction that in order to divorce, it is necessary to pronounce the divorce three times. All the commentators agree that this verse was revealed to do away with the practice of repeatedly pronouncing divorce and then taking the wife back in order to injure women. There is also a hadith in Tirmazi on this subject that a person could divorce and reconcile, even if he did so a thousand times. The Quran restricted this practice by limiting such reconciliation to two times. If a person divorces for the third time, then reconciliation cannot be affected. This is the fifth restraint on divorce.
So, ٱلطَّلَـٰقُ مَرَّتَانِۖ is the remedy for the practice prevalent among Arabs of divorcing and reconciling with wives numerous times, but people use it to differentiate between two types of divorce, namely طلاق رجعی and طلاق بائن . In طلاق بائن the divorce is pronounced three times in one go and this is an attempt to nullify the provision that allows reconciliation twice after divorce. The effect of this kind of divorce is that the husband foregoes the chance of reconciliation during the waiting period as is the spirit of verse 228 and also cannot remarry her after the waiting period as in verse 232. A section of jurists hold such a divorce as طلاق بائن but in reality to show that such a divorce is not Islamic, they have called it طلاق بدعی (innovated divorce). The sad part, though, is that they recognize such a divorce and make no attempt to do away with the innovation, even though the Holy Prophet did not accept it. There is a hadith in Abu Dawud, Tirmidhi and Ibn Majah that Rakanah bin Abd Yazeed came to the Holy Prophet and said that he had given his wife طلاق بته. Holy Prophet asked him, “What was your intention?” He replied, “My intention was to divorce once.” Whereupon the Holy Prophet gave him permission to take his wife back. A hadith in Nasai narrates that the Holy Prophet was once told a person had divorced his wife by pronouncing the divorce thrice in one go. The hadith records the Holy Prophets response as:اللّٰه عز و جل و انا بین اظھر کم غضبان ثم قال ایلعب بکتاب فقام (Mishkat) (He got up angrily and said, “Is Allah’s Book being mocked while I am still amongst you”). It is ironic that Holy Prophet calls it mocking the Book of Allah, but the condition today is that whenever someone divorces among the Muslims, the initial practice is to pronounce three divorces. The fault lies with the religious scholars who do not inform the masses that this manner of divorce was declared by the Holy Prophet to be mocking the Book of Allah. If the Muslims were aware that the Holy Prophet called this method of divorce mocking the Book of Allah, they would never be impertinent enough to pronounce divorce three times when divorce can equally be affected by pronouncing it once. It appears from these hadith that the practice of pronouncing divorce three times was a custom in the Pre-Islamic times, which the Holy Prophet stopped in accordance with the teachings of Quran. But this disease slowly gained strength to such an extent that today there is hardly any Muslim who is free from its influence.
In this matter, another wrong conclusion is often drawn from a decision of Caliph Umar. Ibn Abbas states that during the time of Holy Prophet, Caliph Abu Bakr, and the first two years of Caliph Umar’s reign, the pronouncement of three divorces was considered one divorce, but when people accepted this as a norm, Caliph Umar said:ان الناس قد استجلوا فی امرکانت لھم فیه اناة فلوا مضینا علیہم فا مضاہ (People make haste in this matter in which they were given flexibility. It would be better if we impose a judgment on them accordingly). So, he gave a decree accordingly. First, the action of one companion does not constitute a legal argument. Second, it is clear that Caliph Umar gave this judgment as a punishment so that people may abstain from giving three divorces in one go. When his real intention was to stop people from this innovation, how can his action be used as a justification. There is a narration in Tirmidhi which states: فروی عن عمر بن الخطاب انه جعل البتة واحدة There is a tradition from Umar bin Khatab that he adjudged three divorces pronounced together to be one divorce. It is possible that he may have issued that injunction only as a temporary measure. In any case, this action of his cannot make three divorces pronounced together substitute for three divorces said separately when Holy Prophet was against it.
Jurists have classified divorce to be of three types: طلاق بدعی (Tallaq Badai) which was mentioned above. This is not legit under any condition and Muslims should abstain from it. The second type of divorce is one which they call حسن (Hassan) and in it, the husband divorces the wife three separate times when she is not having menses. This is also called بائن. There is no clear evidence for this type of divorce. There is absolutely no mention in the Quran that three divorces be given during three successive non-menstrual periods. The clear language of the Quran is: فطلقو ھن بعد تھن , that is when a divorce is announced once, there is a waiting period which is the duration of a woman’s three periods. When a waiting period of three periods is specifically mentioned in the Quran after one divorce, then what is this second and third divorce and why should there not be the waiting periods after these divorces as specifically mentioned in the Quran? There is no hadith as far as I have researched with an injunction that a divorce can be granted by pronouncing it during each of the three periods of purity during the menses. Hence this method of divorce should not be adopted.
The third type of divorce is the one that is called احسن (Ahsan) and it is the one in which a man pronounces divorce during the gap within the woman’s period and without having had conjugal relations in that gap. The divorce is pronounced only once, and this divorce is the one manifestly stated in the Quran and which can also be recognized from the Hadith. This is the method of divorce which should be adopted. By adopting other methods, Muslims had to suffer such indignities that are even difficult to express. It is manifestly against the Quran not to give a chance of reconciliation to a man who divorces his wife. The consequence of adopting methods of divorce not mentioned in the Quran is the reason why the degrading practice known as حلالہ (halalah) has been innovated.
Each pronunciation of divorce has a cycle and unless the cycle is completed, it makes no difference whether the man pronounces divorce a hundred times, or three times, or he pronounces it every day or once every month, it constitutes one divorce. The waiting period begins from the time the divorce is uttered for the first time provided the woman is not menstruating, but if she is menstruating then the divorce is void as is apparent from a reliable hadith in which the Holy Prophet ordered Ibn Umar to take his wife back because he had pronounced divorce during her menses. As to the question of whether a divorce during menses would count as one divorce or not, it appears from the judgment rendered by Holy Prophet that it would not be counted as a divorce as is clear from the following reasoning: suppose a person divorces and reconciles with a woman twice and a third time divorces her during her menses, then if the divorce counts as a third divorce, it precludes a reconciliation. But the Holy Prophet made reconciliation mandatory if the woman was menstruating when divorce was pronounced.
Injunction for kind treatment in divorce: In the matter of divorce, فَإِمۡسَاكُۢ بِمَعۡرُوفٍ (then keep them in good fellowship) is a golden rule in which good treatment of the wife is incumbent upon the husband. And a hadith states: خیرکم خیرکم لاھله )The best of you is the one who is best to his family). If there is mental incompatibility or some disputes arise that cannot be resolved and since this is counter to إِمۡسَاكُۢ بِمَعۡرُوفٍ then تَسۡرِيحُۢ بِإِحۡسَـٰنٍ۬ (let them go with kindness) becomes incumbent. This shows that unless the woman is guilty of indecency, the Quran mandates good treatment in divorce. The Holy Prophet, too, was ordered on one occasion when his wives demanded extra housekeeping money that if they wanted the provisions of this life, he should say to them: أُمَتِّعۡكُنَّ وَأُسَرِّحۡكُنَّ سَرَاحً۬ا جَمِيلاً۬ (I will give you a provision and allow you to depart a goodly departing).
229b: It is necessary to pay the woman’s dowry (mahar): The meaning of مِمَّآ ءَاتَيۡتُمُوهُنَّ (what you have given them) is woman’s dowry (mahar). The dowry is given to the woman, and it is quite clear from Quranic mentions of mahar that it is given to the woman. It is not a fictitious amount like the current practice. However, it is permissible for a person who because of some compulsion cannot pay the amount of dowry immediately to consider the amount as a debt and to pay it as soon as possible. This is the sixth restraint on marriage because the amount of dowry is generally so large that it is a curb on a man from divorcing unless there is good reason. The amount of dowry given is in accordance with a man’s status and is different for a rich and a poor man. The current practice of fixing a so called shariah dowry of thirty- two rupees has led to much abuse because one of the main purposes of mahar is as a restraint on divorce. This paltry amount negates this purpose, and leads to much mistreating of women at the hands of men. There are only two situations in which some of the mahar money can be reclaimed. One of these is mentioned later in the verse and the other is mentioned in Surah Al-Nisa as: إِلَّآ أَن يَأۡتِينَ بِفَـٰحِشَةٍ۬ مُّبَيِّنَةٍ۬ (unless they are guilty of manifest indecency) (4:19).
229c: The method of divorce mentioned here is called خلع (khullah) in the terminology of the shariah. It is the situation where the woman is desirous of divorce, but the words used are that both cannot keep within the limits of Allah. The reason for this appears to be that when the woman expresses her desire for divorce, there is a danger that the husband would mistreat her to stop her from doing so, and thus both did not keep within the limits of Allah. The woman because she desires divorce, and the man because he mistreats her. This is different from the first situation where the man is the transgressor or the only party desiring divorce.
فَإِنۡ خِفۡتُمۡ – The personal pronoun in then if you fear refers to the arbitrator. So, if the woman desires divorce, she should approach the judge, and if he sees that ground exists for a divorce, he should so order it. Thus, just as the restraint on the man for frivolously divorcing is the amount of dowry, the restraint on the woman is that she has to approach a judge.
The incident of Jamila’s divorce: The incident of the divorce of Jamila bint Abdullah bin Ubbay and her husband Thabit ibn Qays bin Shammas is narrated in reliable hadith which proves that women have the same right to obtain divorce as the men. Jamila wanted divorce but Qays did not. Jamila approached the Prophet and he asked her, “Will you return the garden that he gave you as dowry?” She agreed and the Holy Prophet ordered Qays to divorce her. The hadith contains the following statement from her: ما اعتب علیه فی خلق و لادین (I do not blame him for his morals or religion). In another narration, she is reported to have said: لا اطیقه یعنی بغضا (I cannot bear him). This narration proves that a woman has the right of divorce in cases of incompatible temperament, not just in situations where she has a grievance such as mistreatment, adultery or moral laxity. Just as men are restrained from rushing into divorce, women too, despite the liberal rights of divorce granted to them, are discouraged from being too hasty in seeking divorce. A narration in Abu Daud, Tirmizi and other Books of Hadith state: ایما امراة سألت زوجھا طلاقا فی غیر ما باس فحرام علیھا رائحة الجنة (The scent of heaven is forbidden to any woman who asks her husband for divorce without being in any hardship). It must be remembered though that incompatible temperament is itself a hardship.
Why is incompatible temperament a basis for divorce: It may seem that Islam is too liberal in granting the right of divorce merely based on dislike or incompatible temperament. But the teachings of Islam are based upon human nature. If there is incompatibility between the husband and wife, they cannot fulfill the purpose of marriage, because one of the objectives of marriage is that the husband and wife should be an apparel for each other, a source of satisfaction, comfort and joy, asstated in: هُنَّ لِبَاسٌ۬ لَّكُمۡ وَأَنتُمۡ لِبَاسٌ۬ لَّهُنَّ (They are an apparel for you and you are an apparel for them) (2:187) and لِّتَسۡكُنُوٓاْ إِلَيۡهَا وَجَعَلَ بَيۡنَڪُم مَّوَدَّةً۬ وَرَحۡمَةًۚ (…that you may find quite of mind in them, and He put between you love and compassion) (30:21). This state cannot be achieved without compatibility, and bringing forth children and mentoring them, which is another important objective of marriage, also cannot be attained because constant tension and fights among the parents are detrimental to the moral upbringing of children.
229d: Detrimental effects of denying of the right of divorce for women in South Asia: A great injustice is perpetuated against the women of South Asia because they are being denied the right of divorce except in very special circumstances. The result of depriving women of this right which the Quran gives them is that thousands of women are in a state of distress and helplessness at the hands of husbands who neither maintain them in their homes nor divorce them. Many of them convert to Christianity or Arya Hinduism or some other religion just to escape the cruelty of their husbands, but our leaders and religious scholars are unmoved. They see the destruction of Muslims in front of their eyes, but they are silent despite the fact that after granting these rights, Allah warned in a very forbidding manner: “These are the limits of Allah, so exceed them not, and whoever exceeds the limits of Allah, these are the wrongdoers.” Muslims should reflect on these words and think as to which group Allah includes them in.
2-230 So if he divorces her (the third time), she shall not be lawful to him afterwards until she marries another husband. If he divorces her, there is no blame on them both if they return to each other (by marriage), if they think that they can keep within the limits of Allah.a And these are the limits of Allah which He makes clear for a people who know.
فَإِن طَلَّقَهَا فَلَا تَحِلُّ لَهُ ۥ مِنۢ بَعۡدُ حَتَّىٰ تَنكِحَ زَوۡجًا غَيۡرَهُ ۥۗ فَإِن طَلَّقَهَا فَلَا جُنَاحَ عَلَيۡہِمَآ أَن يَتَرَاجَعَآ إِن ظَنَّآ أَن يُقِيمَا حُدُودَ ٱللَّهِۗ وَتِلۡكَ حُدُودُ ٱللَّهِ يُبَيِّنُہَا لِقَوۡمٍ۬ يَعۡلَمُونَ (٢٣٠)
2-230a This is the seventh restraint on the freedom to divorce. In fact, the first two divorces are temporary separations because husband and wife can resume their previous life together. The benefit of this temporary separation can be availed of two times only because if some restraint is not put on the number of temporary separations, then the benefit itself would become a disease. This restraint forces a person to think many times before pronouncing divorce for a third time because the relationship can not be reestablished except under the condition that remarriage to another person and subsequent divorce ensues.
Muslims, out of crass ignorance innovated the practice of halalah to circumvent the spirit of this verse, and thus give critics another reason to smear Islam. A common occurrence is that a man divorces his wife by pronouncing divorce three times during a fit of anger, but later regrets and wants a reconciliation. He approaches a cleric to find a way out, and the cleric suggests halalah or temporary marriage for one night followed by divorce the next morning, clearing the way for remarriage with the former husband. This curse exists in the Muslim community because they do not follow the Quran. Halalah, in fact, is a custom from the Pre-Islamic time of ignorance, and a hadith in Mishkat clearly states that the Holy Prophet cursed the person who did halalah and the one for whom the halalah is done. There is also a narration in which Umar said that if a person who does halalah and the one for whom halalah is done is brought to him, he would order both to be stoned. In Ruh al-Maani, there is a narration that a case was brought before Caliph Usman in which a person had married a woman as a halalah for her previous husband. Usman nullified the marriage contract and ruled that she could not go back to her former husband unless she married another person out of her free will without any ulterior motive. So, the curse that the Holy Prophet and his companions had removed is today hanging from the necks of the Muslim society and no attempt is made to remove it.
Marriage cannot be temporary: If someone thinks that the words of the Quran support this practice, they are unaware of Quranic principles. The Quran does not consider marriage for a night or a fixed period permissible. Marriage in the terminology of the Quran is for life, and the agreement of the man and woman is necessary for marriage. This is not the case in the cursed practice of halalah. This is clearly adultery, and it is necessary for every Muslim to exert himself to eradicate it.
2-231 And when you divorce women and they reach their prescribed time, then retain them in kindness or set them free with kindness and retain them not for injury so that you exceed the limits. And whoever does this, he indeed wrongs his own soul. And take not Allah’s messages for a mockery, and remember Allah’s favor to you, and that which He has revealed to you of the Book and the Wisdom, admonishing you thereby. And keep your duty to Allah, and know that Allah is the Knower of all things.a
وَإِذَا طَلَّقۡتُمُ ٱلنِّسَآءَ فَبَلَغۡنَ أَجَلَهُنَّ فَأَمۡسِكُوهُنَّ بِمَعۡرُوفٍ أَوۡ سَرِّحُوهُنَّ بِمَعۡرُوفٍ۬ۚ وَلَا تُمۡسِكُوهُنَّ ضِرَارً۬ا لِّتَعۡتَدُواْۚ وَمَن يَفۡعَلۡ ذَٲلِكَ فَقَدۡ ظَلَمَ نَفۡسَهُ ۥۚ وَلَا تَتَّخِذُوٓاْ ءَايَـٰتِ ٱللَّهِ هُزُوً۬اۚ وَٱذۡكُرُواْ نِعۡمَتَ ٱللَّهِ عَلَيۡكُمۡ وَمَآ أَنزَلَ عَلَيۡكُم مِّنَ ٱلۡكِتَـٰبِ وَٱلۡحِكۡمَةِ يَعِظُكُم بِهِۦۚ وَٱتَّقُواْ ٱللَّهَ وَٱعۡلَمُوٓاْ أَنَّ ٱللَّهَ بِكُلِّ شَىۡءٍ عَلِيمٌ۬ (٢٣١)
2-231a: بَلَغۡنَ – بلوغ or بَلاغ is in reality a matter reaching its pinnacle, but sometimes it is also spoken of a matter that is near to reaching its pinnacle (R). Here the meaning is near to reaching the end of its term because if the end of the term was reached, then the ability to امسکوھن that is to retain no longer exists.
أَجَلَ – The time that is fixed for something is called its أَجَلَ (R). The meaning here is the waiting period of woman after divorce. This is another place from which it can be surmised that according to the Quran, the pronouncement of divorce is considered one divorce because the ability to reconcile exists, otherwise it would be meaningless to say retain them in kindness.
A Judge can decree a divorce if woman mistreated by husband: The second thing that is manifest from this verse is that it is not permissible to retain a woman to injure her. According to the Quran, a judge can decree divorce on being furnished evidence of any ground that the woman is being injured. There are numerous incidences where husbands abandon women without any maintenance but do not divorce them. Such an act is making a mockery of the Holy Quran as is clearly stated in this verse.
Bayan-ul-Quran 