1) The divorce should be issued
while the woman is in a state of purity
(tuhr) in which intercourse has
not occurred. Otherwise, it would
be sinful to issue a divorce to a
woman in the state of menses or in
a period of purity in which intercourse
has taken place. However, if
the divorce is taking place before
consummation of marriage, it may
be issued even when a woman is in
her menses.
2) Only one divorce should be given
in a period of purity. It would be
sinful to issue multiple divorces
within one period of purity.
3) It would be better to issue a revocable
divorce unless there is a valid
reason not to.
Question: A husband said to his wife
during an argument, “You can give
yourself talaq.” The wife then responded,
“If that is what Allah wants for me,
then I give myself talaq.” Did divorce
occur?
Answer: The above wording will not result
in a divorce. This is because when
the issuance of divorce is contingent on
the will of Allah (meaning the phrase in
shaAllah is attached to the pronouncement
of divorce), then divorce will not
occur.
Question: A man said to his wife, “I am
going to give you three divorces, so
I never have to deal with you again.”
What is the status of the marriage?
Answer: In the aforementioned scenario,
the marriage would remain intact.
In the statement of the husband,
he merely stated his intention to issue
three divorces sometime in the future.
Divorce will only occur when the pronouncement
of the divorce is made in
the past or present tense.
Question: A man was under anesthesia
and was unaware of what he is saying or
doing. During this state he issued a divorce
to his wife. Would such a divorce
be valid?
Answer: In principle, divorce will not
occur due to utterances made by a man
while being intoxicated. Consequently,
divorce would not occur in the aforementioned
scenario.
Question: Is there any such narration
which mentions that a person’s life will
be extended if he/she maintains good
family ties? If so, how can this be reconciled
with the fact that our time of
death is already predetermined?
Answer: In a hadith of Bukhari, Abu
Hurayra g narrates that the Messenger
of Allah s said, “Whoever wishes for
his provisions to be increased and for
his life to be prolonged, he/she should
maintain family ties.”
Therefore, the virtue mentioned in
your query is found in an authentic
hadith. As for the question: “How
can a person’s life be prolonged when
everyone’s time of death is predestined,”
one of the explanations by the
commentators of hadith is that the
hadith in reference does not literally
mean that one’s life will be prolonged
and their death will be delayed.
Rather, it means that Allah will put so
much baraka and blessings in the person’s
life that they would be able to accomplish
more than people normally
do in their lifetime.
www.madania.org 29