Concerning Divorce

follow the same path. The executive order of ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab was not meant to become a permanent law of the shari’ah to be generally enforced at all times. It was meant only to discourage deviation from the shari’ah and to engender respect for the proper way of divorce. Although an exception to the general rule, ‘Umar’s verdict could at some future date be adopted, if the circumstances so warranted it, and it could be enforced just as it was in the past, provided that whoever made such a ruling was vested with the same political power as ‘Umar ibn alKhattab. The right to pass an executive order belongs only to an administrator. The common man has no such right, whatever the circumstances, because, he does not have the requisite power to deal with the social consequences of such a ruling. AFTER DIVORCE The question that arises immediately after divorce is of ways and means to meet one’s necessary expenses. One’s answer is to resort to the Islamic law of inheritance. If women were to be given their due share according to Islamic law, there would be no question of a woman becoming destitute. But, sad to say, the majority of Muslim women fail to get their due share of inheritance from their deceased fathers and husbands as stipulated by Islamic law. If they could do so, this would be more than enough to meet such emergencies. However, Islam has not just left women’s financial problems to the vagaries of inheritance, because parents are not invariably in possession of property which can be divided among their children. Further arrangements have been made under the maintenance law, but this has no connection with the law of divorce. The answer to this question must be sought therefore in the Islamic law of maintenance. Here we shall briefly describe some of its aspects: 1. In case the divorced woman is childless or the children are not earning, according to Islamic law, the responsibility for her maintenance falls on her father. That is, her situation will be the same as it was before marriage. To quote from Path al-Qadir19: The Father is responsible for bearing the expenses of his daughter till her marriage, in the event of her having no money. The father has no right to force her to earn, even if she is able to. When the girl is divorced and the period of confinement is over, her father shall again have to bear her expense.20 2. If the divorced woman has a son who is an earning member of the family, the responsibility for her maintenance falls entirely upon him. All that rightfully belongs to a wife, will be the duty of the son to provide, that is, food, drink, clothes, house and even servants, if possible.21 3. In the case of the father being deceased, and where even her children are unable to earn, her nearest relatives such as brothers or uncles are responsible for her upkeep. In the