Divorce without witness
Mu' meneen
Brothers and Sisters,
As Salaam Aleikum wa
Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh. (May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be
upon all of you)
One of our
brothers/sisters has asked this question:
If a person divorced
her wife like he said her three times "TALAK, TALAK, TALAK" but only
in the presence of her wife no other witness was there ..
so in this case divorce completed or not??? Plz guide thanks
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Answer:
In the
name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness.
Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and whoever He allows to fall astray,
none can guide them aright. We bear witness that there is no one (no idol, no
person, no grave, no prophet, no imam,
no dai,
nobody!) worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that
Muhammad(saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.
Al-Muwatta Hadith
29.4
Yahya related from Malik
from Ibn Shihab that Marwan ibn al-Hakam
decided that if someone made three pronouncements of divorce, he had divorced
his wife irrevocably.
Malik said, "That is what I like best of what
I have heard on the subject."
Al-Muwatta Hadith
29.1
Yahya related from Malik
that he had heard that a man said to Abdullah ibn Abbas, "I have divorced my wife by saying ‘I divorce
you’ a hundred times. What do you think my situation is?" Ibn Abbas said to him, "She
was divorced from you by three pronouncements, and by the ninety-seven, you
have mocked the ayat of Allah."
The
correct way to divorce a wife is to pronounce the divorce once, and wait for
three monthly periods; if the husband does not take the wife back during this
waiting period, it will be considered a divorce. The husband can do this twice in his lifetime
to the wife, and the third time he pronounces a divorce, it will be considered
irrevocable.
But if
the husband pronounces three divorces at the same time, the majority of the
scholars are of the opinion that it will be counted as three divorces, and the
divorce will be considered irrevocable.
While
giving a divorce in Islam, there is absolutely no condition that it must be
done in front of any witnesses. If a
husband pronounces a divorce verbally, it will constitute a proper divorce in
the sight of Shariah.
Witnesses
might only be needed in a case, where a husband divorces his wife, and then
refuses in a
Al-Muwatta Hadith
28.56
Yahya related from Malik
from Yahya ibn Said that
Said ibn al-Musayyab said,
"There are three things in which there is no jest: marriage, divorce, and
setting free."
Islam
takes the subject of divorce extremely seriously. A simple verbal announcement by the husband
of the term ‘I divorce you’ to his wife, even if it is said in jest, will
constitute a legal divorce in Islam.
Whatever
written of Truth and benefit is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance,
and whatever of error is of me. Allah
Alone Knows Best and He is the Only Source of Strength.
Your Brother in Islam,
Wister