Concerning Divorce

absence of even this third form, the Islamic shari’ah holds the State Treasury (baitumal) responsible for bearing her expenses. She will be entitled to receive the money for her necessities. Because of the number of provisions made under Islamic law for women it has never been the case in Islamic history that Muslim divorced women have been cast adrift, helpless, with no one to look after them. Indian columnist Khushwant Singh has remarked that we do not hear of Muslim women committing suicide or being tortured like Hindu women, which is a proof that Islam has already given them adequate liberty and has made enough provision for them to be supported in times of emergencies. A new dimension has been added to the issue since the women of this day and age can leave their homes to work, and are therefore not as entirely dependent on men as they used to be in the past: there is no need then to make laws which provide for them at the expense of their men folk. When they are earning like men, what is the point in making such a law? Only in exceptional cases, surely, do they need to be looked after, and ways and means of doing so can generally be worked out quite satisfactorily on a personal level. Notes 1. Encyclopaedia Britannica (1984), vol. 7, pp. 163-164. 2. Ibid. 3. Ibid. 4. Bertrand Russell, Autobiography, (London, 1978), pp. 563-564. 5. The Hindustan Times, (New Delhi), October 12, 1985. 6. Abu Dawud, Sunan, Kitab at-Talaq, 2/255. 7. Qur’an, 2:236. 8. Qur’an, 33:49. 9. Qur’an, 4:130. 10. Ibn Majah, Sunan, Kitab an-Nikah, 1/636. 11. Qur’an, 4:21. 12. Ibn Majah, Sunan, Kitab an-Nikah. 13. Abu Dawud, Sunan, Kitab at-Talaq, 2/255. 14. Muslim, Sahih, Kitab ar-Rada‘, 2/1091. 15. Qur’an 2:229. 16. Fath aI-Bari, 9/275. 17. Fath aI-Bari, 9/275.