Divorce in our age is a great world problem. Everyone moans and complains. Those people under whose laws divorce is totally prohibited complain that they do not have the remedy of divorce for those unsuccessful marriages which are bound to take place. On the other hand, the cries those who have kept the way to divorce open equally for man and woman rise to the heavens, complaining about the increase in divorces and the instability of the family structure with all its associated ills and uncalled for side-effects. Moreover, those who have given this right only to man complain on two accounts.

Firstly, about the unmanly divorces of certain men who, having lived together with their wives as husbands, suddenly develop a fancy for a new wife, and the first wife, who spent her vitality, youth, energy and health on their home and never imagined that her cozy abode would one day be seized from her, is driven away from her repose, forsaken and utterly dejected, by only one visit to the office of the registrar of divorces.

The other is the unmanly refusal of certain men to divorce their wives when there remains no hope of a harmonious and united life.

It can happen that due to some special reasons, the differences between a husband and wife reach a stage where there is no hope of their finding a settlement. All attempts at reconciliation prove fruitless: a great dislike exists between the husband and wife; they live separately, and each of them has practically nothing to do with the other. In such circumstances, any reasonable person would be convinced that the only thing proper for them is that the relation which has to all intents and purposes been cut should also legally be served, and that each of them may be allowed to make the selection of some other partner. Nevertheless some men, if only to torment the other party and depriving her of the benefit of enjoying a married life, keep their unfortunate wife in a state of suspense for nothing (in the words of the Qur’an) (ka’l-mu ‘allaqah) like someone hanging on).

As this kind of person knows nothing about Islam and Muslims except the name, and then they do these things in the name of Islam and by leaning on the laws of Islam, a doubt is created in some people who are not conversant with the depth and the real spirit of Islamic teachings as to whether Islam really advocates that the business of divorce should be like this.

With a voice of complaint, these people say: Has Islam really allowed men, sometimes by giving divorce and sometimes by withholding divorce, to persecute women in any way they like? Those people who act in the above mentioned way are completely satisfied that they are correct in the way they take advantage of their religious and legal rights. Those who raise objections say: Is that not cruelty? If this is not cruelty, what is cruelty? Do you not say that Islam is against injustice in any form and in any shape, and that Islamic laws are based upon justice and truth? If these acts are cruel and unjust, and Islamic laws are based up on truth and justice, tell us, so that we may see what provision is made by Islam to check these cases of injustice.

There is no denying that these acts are cruel. We will point out afterwards that Islam has provided correctives for these practices and has not left them to themselves. Nevertheless, there is one other point which should not be lost sight of, and that is to think over what methods should be adopted to check these cruelties and injustices. Is the only thing which causes cruelties of this description to be committed the divorce law, and will only amendment of the divorce law amend these things? Or should the root cause of these cruelties be looked for elsewhere, because changes in the law alone cannot stop these things.

The difference between the view of Islam and some other views about solving social problems is that some people, holding views other than that of Islam, imagine that all problems can be solved by passing and altering laws. Islam, on the other hand, clearly makes the point that although the law can certainly be effective as far as the everyday affair of the people and matters revolving around contracts, etc. are concerned, in cases where the problem is characterized by feelings of affections and love and pertains to individual likes and dislikes, in short, in cases with an emotional aspect, then the law alone cannot be effective. Other causes and factors should be investigated, and other provisions brought into use to obtain the desired goals.

We shall prove that Islam has made use of the law in places where it can be effective, and has not been neglected in this direction.

Dishonourable divorces:

Firstly, we shall discuss the foremost problem of our times, namely dishonourable divorces.

Islam is strongly against divorce and wants divorce to be avoided as far a possible. Islam has provided his remedy only for occasions in which there is no alternative but separation. Islam considers as enemies of God those men who marry one woman after the other and divorce them in quick succession and whom it calls mutallaq (lit: a divorcer).

In the book al-Kafi [1] it is narrated: The Prophet went to a man and enquired: “What did you do about your wife?”

He said: “I divorced her.”

The Prophet asked, “Did you see anything objectionable in her.”

He replied, “No, I did not see anything objectionable in her.”

The matter stopped here, and that man married again. The Prophet asked him, “Did you marry another wife?”

He said, “Yes.”

After some time the Prophet again went to that man and asked him; “What did you do about your wife?”

He said: “I divorced her.”

The Prophet asked him, “Did you see anything evil in her.”

He said: “I did not see anything evil in her either.”

The matter closed again here, and that man married for the third time.

The Prophet asked him: “Have you taken another wife?”

He said: “Yes, O’ Messenger of Allah!”

A considerable time passed and the Holy Prophet went to him and asked: “ What did you do about the wife you married?”

He said: “I divorced her also.”

The Prophet asked: “Did you see anything evil in her?”

He replied: “No, I did not see anything evil in her either.”

The Prophet said “Allah considers as His enemy and damns the man who relishes changing wives one after the other, and the woman who delights in changing husbands one after the other.”

The Prophet was informed that Abu Ayyub al-Ansari was determined to divorce Umm Ayyub, his wife. The Prophet personally knew Umm Ayyub, and knew also that the divorce of Abu Ayyub was not grounded in an genuine cause. He said:

 “Verily, the divorce of Umm Ayyub is a great sin.” The Prophet also said: “Jibra’il (Gabriel) so much commended the cause of the woman, and so counseled me as to give me the impression that except in the clear case of adultery the wife does not deserve to be divorced”.

Imam (Ja‘far) as-Sadiq quoted the Holy Prophet as saying: “To God no house is dearer than the house where there is the union of marriage, and no house exists which deserves His wrath more than that in which the union of marriage is broken by divorce.” Imam as-Sadiq then said that the word talaq (divorce) occurs repeatedly in the Qur’an, and that the details of the matter of divorce have been honoured with the attention of the Holy Qur’an, The reason for this is that God is an enemy of separation.

Tabarsi [2] in Makarimu’l-akhlaq (Noble Deeds of Morality) quoted from the Prophet: “Get married, but do not divorce because the throne of Allah shudders when there is divorce.”

Imam as-Sadiq said: “No lawful thing is the object of so much wrath and hate in the eyes of Allah as divorce is. Allah considers the man who repeatedly divorces as His enemy.”

This thing is not especially found in traditions from Shi’ite sources. The Sunnis have also quoted similar traditions. In the Kitab as-Sunan, Abu Dawud quotes from the Holy Prophet that Allah declared lawful nothing so abominable to Him as divorce.

Mawlavi (Jalalu’d-Din Rumi) in his well-known story of Musa (Moses) and the shepherd alluded to the same tradition of the Prophet when he said:

As far as possible do not step into separation.

For ‘the most detestable thing to me is divorce’.

In the biographies of the leader, and guides of our religion it is observed that, as far as possible, they abstained from divorce. It was, therefore, very rare that they divorced a woman, and when they did there was a very reasonable and logical reason for that. For example, Imam (Muhammad) al-Baqir wedded a woman who was dearly loved by him. Then the Imam became aware that the woman was nasabiyyah, that is, she detested Ali ibn Abi Talib and nourished a grudge against him in her heart. The Imam divorced her.

The Imam was asked, “The woman was loved by you, why did you divorce her.” The Imam replied, “I did not want that a flame from the fires of Hell should be by my side.”

A malicious tale without any truth:

Here it is necessary to refer briefly to a baseless and scandalous story which was fabricated by the criminal ‘Abbasid Caliphs, and was spread about amongst people in general and mentioned in books, that Imam al-Mujtaba, [3] the honoured son of ‘Ali, Amir al-mu’minin, was one of those who wedded large number of women and then divorced them. Because the foundation of this malicious tale was laid almost a century after the death of the Imam, it spread everywhere. The admirers and followers of the Imam also began to talk about it without looking into the truth of the matter and without thinking over the fact that in the view of Islam this is an abominable and detestable thing and is befitting only for a sensuous and ignorant person. It is not the work of a person who used to go to Hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca) on foot from Medina. During his lifetime, more than twenty times he divided up all his wealth and holdings among the needy and the poor; he took half of it and the other half he distributed among the destitute. How can this mischievous tale accord with the high standing position of utmost piety and infallibility and the Imamate of that venerable personality?

As we know, with the change of the caliphate from the Umayyids to the ‘Abbasids, the Bani al-Hassan, that is, the grandson of Imam Hassan cooperate with the Bani al- ‘Abbas, while the grandsons of Imam Husayn, at the head at that time was Imam as-Sadiq, abstained from cooperating with them. The Bani al ‘Abbas, though in the beginning they showed esteem and respect for the Bani al-Hasan and gave them to understand that they thought them to be worthier of the caliphate than themselves, ultimately betrayed them. Most of them were eliminated from the scene by being beheaded, and some were imprisoned.

The Bani al-‘Abbas began to propagate lies against Bani al-Hasan for the purpose of firmly establishing their political position. One item of their mischievous propaganda was that Abu-Talib, who was the great-grandfather of the Bani Al-Hasan and the uncle of the Prophet, was not a Muslim, and had died an infidel, while ‘Abbas who was another uncle of the Prophet, embraced Islam and died a Muslim. So the Bani al-‘Abbas, who were the progeny of the Muslim uncle of the Prophet, deserved the caliphate more than Bani al-Hasan, who were the progeny of an infidel uncle of the Prophet. So as to make this view popularly acceptable, they spent large sums of money and invented false stories. Today, also, a section of the Sunnis, under the influence of the same propaganda and plan, declare Abu Talib to be an unbeliever. However if research were carried out in real earnest among Sunni scholars on this subject, they would be able to correct this matter in line with history.

The other item of propaganda which they started against the Bani al-Hasan was that they said that the forefather of the Bani al-Hasan, Imam Hasan, succeeded his father to the caliphate, but because he was a libertine, he occupied himself with wedding women, and divorcing them. That is why he could not succeed in the duties of the caliphate. He accepted sums of money from Mu‘awiyah, his strong rival, abdicated the caliphate in favour of him, and applied himself to the sensuous activities of wedding and divorcing women.

Fortunately in the end, eminent scholars of the subsequent period carried out research and arrived at the root of this falsehood. The above comment was first of all made by a judge who was in the service of Mansur ad-Dawaniqi, the ‘Abbasid caliph, and it was commanded to publicize this falsehood. One of the historians remarked on this circumstance, that if Imam Hasan had wedded so many wives, where was all his children? Why was the number of his sons and daughters so small? The Imam was not sterile, and birth-control and abortion were not the practice of that day.

I am amazed at the senseless credulity of the Shi’ite narrators of traditions. On the one they narrate a large number of traditions from the Holy Prophet and the pious Imams saying that God considers as His enemies men who divorce irresponsibly, and that He condemns them. On the other hand, they write that Imam Hasan was a person who divorced excessive number of women. These people never reflect that they should make a choice of one of three courses. Either they should say that there is nothing wrong with divorce and God does not consider as His enemy a man who divorce women in great number, or they should say that Imam Hasan was not a person who divorced many women. The third possibility is for them to declare, God forbid, that Imam Hasan did not abide by Islamic law. However, on the one hand these venerable personages take the traditions of the detestableness of divorce as authentic and genuine, and on the other hand they believe in the exceeding holiness and piety of Imam Hasan and display great esteem and respect for him. Along side this they quote the excessive number of divorces of Imam Hasan, and, without critically looking into the matter, pass on.

There are certain others who have gone so far in this matter as to say Amir al-mu’ minin, Ali (a.s.) was displeased with this behaviour of his son. He informed people publicly from the pulpit, and advised them not to marry their daughters to his son because he would divorce them. Despite this, the people answered that they would be proud of the honour of having their daughters married to the grandson of the Prophet. If he wanted them, he could keep them, and, if he did not want them, he could divorce them.

Perhaps some people consider the consent and agreement of the daughters and the members of their families sufficient to tone down and do away with the detestability of divorce. They think that divorce is to be hated only when the other side is not agreeable to it; but that when the woman desires to have the honour of living a few days with a man she is proud of, there is no harm in divorce.

But it is not like this. The consent of the fathers of the girls, and the consent of the girls themselves do not weaken the degree of the detestability of divorce. The reason is that Islam wants only that the ties of marriage should be steadfastly maintained. The agreement of the husband and the wife about separation does not; in this respect very much alter the situation.

Islam considers divorce detestable not to oblige or favour woman, and not to receive her gratitude and that of her family members. Her consent and the consent of the members of her family cannot do away with the detestability of divorce.

The reason I have brought up the subject of Imam Hasan, besides the point that a false accusation about a historical figure should be refuted whenever possible, is that some persons who are not afraid of God may act in this manner, and then excuse themselves in the light of the example of Imam Hasan.

Anyhow, what cannot be denied is that divorce and the separation of husband and wife is detestable and hated in the eyes of Islam.

Why did Islam not make divorce Illegal?

At this point a relevant question can be raised. If divorce is so detestable that someone who divorces a woman is considered to be an enemy of God, why did Islam not declare it unlawful? What hinders Islam from making divorce unlawful, and allowing it only on specifically determined occasions. In other words, would it not be preferable for Islam to prescribe conditions, and only allow a man to divorce a woman in those circumstances? And if divorce were conditional, a judicial aspect would necessarily have entered it. Whenever a man intended to divorce his wife, he would first of all have to submit evidence before the judiciary concerning the fulfillment of the required condition. If the judiciary considered his proof reliable and his arguments reasonable, he would get permission for the divorce, otherwise not.

What after all is the underlying meaning of the words: ‘the most detestable of lawful things is divorce?’ If divorce is lawful, it is not detestable, and if it is detestable, it is not lawful. Being detestable and being lawful are contradictory.

Besides all this, the question is whether society, in other words, what is called the judiciary, which represents the society, has the right in divorce, which you say a detestable and hated, to interfere to such a degree that it can hold back a hasty divorce and delay it so much that the man may go back on his determination. At other times, society, that is, this same judiciary, may realize that the marriage in question is an incompatible one, and, that it is preferable that the relationship be dissolved.

[1] Kitab al-Kafi, one of the most authoritative collections of hadith in both usul (principles of faith) as well as fiqh (jurisprudence) compiled by Abu Jafar Muhammad ibn Ya‘qub ibn Is’haq al-Kulayni during the lifetime of the twelfth Imam. This particular hadith is in vol. 6, p.54 of the Tehran edition.

[2] Al-Hasan ibn al-Fadl ibn al-Hasan ibn al-Fadl at-Tabarsi (d. 548/1154), expert in the science of Hadith.

[3] Imam Hasan, the second Imam, brother of Imam Husayn.

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