Talaq as prescribed by the Quran

Dr Qasim Rasul Ilyas, member of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board, says: “talaq is not valid and desirable if given through email, phone, WhatsApp or other social media platforms.

“As per the Quranic concept of divorce: If a husband decides to divorce his wife, he has to wait until she has completed her menstrual cycle and then desist from any physical relationship. He should then utter the word ‘talaq’ just once. After this, the wife continues to stay in her husband’s house for a period of three menstrual cycles. This period is called ‘Iddat’. For a pregnant woman, this period is up to the birth of the child. In the case of a newly married couple, who have had no [physical] contact, divorce does not entail any period of iddat for the wife.

“In case the husband revokes his decision during the iddat period, there’s no need for re-marriage and the two shall be considered husband and wife. But if the situation to divorce arises again, he needs to utter ‘talaq’ once again. The same directive will follow. If the situation arises the third time, divorce becomes inevitable. The husband has to repeat ‘talaq’ the third and the final time. Now, if a man remains firm on divorce, the wife is considered as separated permanently and can marry another person.

“Importantly, a woman has equal rights to divorce a man. Also called ‘khula’, it is a procedure by which a woman can divorce her husband by returning the dowry [mehr] that she received from her husband.”