Khula

Talaq (طلاق) (meaning divorce) is the right of only men in Islam. If a man dislikes the wife or the marriage, he can divorce her without any reason; yet if a woman dislikes her husband, she cannot divorce him according to traditional Fiqh (Islamic Jurisprudence). Although modern Islamic feminists have challenged and criticized these laws, they remain the Islamic positions of the major madhaahab (school of jurisprudence) of Islamic law. Despite this disparity, some Islamic advocates such as scholars and du'aah claim that Islam is not 'unjust' to women, and counter that woman can also obtain separation from her husband 'through the (Islamic) court', by means of an Islamic legal device known as Khul' (خلع)^{[1] [2]}.

Despite these Islamic claims, Khul' is in many ways not the equivalent of the talaq for men:

• Khul' is not the 'right' of a woman, but it is still the 'right' of husband to either grant it or to deny it.
• No Islamic Curt could compel the husband to divorce her if he doesn't want to divorce her.
• In Khul', a woman has to offer themoney to her husband in exchange for the dissolution of the marriage.
• If he accepts the money offered, the dissolution of the marriage may proceed. But if he rejects the money offer, then she must stay with him, and no court could compel him to divorce her.
• Even if the husband is abusive, and he beats her brutally (even with bruises on her body), still she could not get her freedom through Khul' according to the traditional rulings of shari'ah.
• Only in the case that her husband causes grievous injury such as breaking her bones, does she get the right to go to the court in order to dissolve the marriage. Yet still she has to pay the money to her husband, even in case if he broke her bone.

Moreover, Khul' is often mixed up with the 'Faskh' (فسخ) of Nikah (i.e. dissolution of marriage), although both of them are two different things.

In 'Faskh' (i.e. dissolution of marriage):

• A women gets the right to go to the court, and get her freedom 'without paying' any 'ransom money'.
• Faskh can take place only in very few special cases (like impotency, or if he doesn't pay her the maintenance money, or if he has became insane, or if his whereabouts are not known).
• Nevertheless, while even in the above mentioned special cases, traditional Islamic law still compels her to wait for several years to get the marriage dissolved and makes no allowances for her needs or suffering during this period of time.

Quranic Verse about the Khul'

If the husband is abusive and beats her brutally (even with bruises), still she has no right to get her freedom

According to this tradition of the prophet, even a brutal beating (even with bruises) is not enough to dissolve a marriage through Khul' or in any other way through any Islamic court:

According to this hadith:

1. This woman was extremely unsatisfied with her husband, and didn’t love him, and wanted to get rid of him.
2. Since Khul’ is not the right of the woman, but depends only upon the will of the man, she was unable to get rid of him despite having a strong desire for the dissolution of the marriage.
3. And this 2nd husband used to beat her brutally till she got bruises all over her body. But despite this beating, he didn’t give her divorce or freedom through Khul’.
4. And Muhammad didn’t prohibit that man from beating her, but made it a part of Islamic Sharia by keeping quiet upon it (known as Hadith-e-Taqriri).
5. And Muhammad also didn’t give the right to the woman to take her freedom through Khul’ after such beating.

Even if husband breaks any part of the wife, still she has to pay the ransom money for her freedom

Critics of islam point out:

• She could not get the right to have divorce automatically, even if he beats her so brutally that any part of her body breaks (like bones etc.), but she still has to pay the ransom money to get rid of such abusive husband.
• As compared to Islam, in the Western world, she will not only get the right to have divorce automatically from such an abusive husband, but she will also get the compensation money from the husband for the injury.

A woman could not get her freedom through Khul’ even if the man is infertile:

All 4 Sunni Fiqh Imams agree that the wife could not take divorce if the man is infertile.

Islam critics point out that on the other hand, if woman is infertile, then according to Islam, he could right away divorce her as Umar Ibn Khattab divorced his wife for this fault^[3].

Women who seek their freedom through Khul’ are hypocrites & will not enter the paradise

If a woman does not simply like her husband, and seeks to get her freedom by using the ransom money, then such a women was declared to be a hypocrite.

Islam critics point out that as compared to the woman, if a husband divorces his wife while he dislikes her or without any harm, then he will not become a hypocrite, and he will not get a problem in entering the paradise for this same action.

Faskh فسخ (i.e. dissolution of marriage), and the unilateral women's sufferings:

In 'Faskh' (i.e. dissolution of marriage):

• A women gets the right to go to the court, and get her freedom 'without paying' any 'ransom money'.
• But Faskh could take place only in very few special cases (like impotency, or if he doesn't pay her the maintenance money, or if he has became insane, or if his whereabouts are not known).
• Nevertheless, Islam critics point out that Islamic Faskh is also an injustice towards the woman, while even in the above mentioned special cases, Islam still compels her to wait for several years to get her freedom and she suffers unilaterally during all this period.

In order to understand it, let us see the example of 'Dissolution of Muslim Marriages Act, 1939'. This was the law which was compiled by Muslims Scholars of Indian subcontinent, and later became the official law of Pakistan and Bangladesh, and Personal Muslim law in India.

Islam critics point out that:

• Although woman gets the right to have divorce in these special cases, but the duration of process is extremely long, and she has to suffer this whole period unilaterally.
• Moreover, as compared to the women, the husbands are allowed to 'immediately' divorce their wives if she is infertile, or she becomes insane, or if she is suffering from leprosy, or she does not respond to husband's call for marital obligation etc.

Women movement against the rulings of Khul' and Faskh rulings in Pakistan and Bangladesh

Right after the independence of Pakistan in 1947, women's struggle started against the Khul' and Faskh rulings. And they also got success when the Supreme Court of Pakistan sided with the women and allowed them to take divorce through Khul' and even without paying the ransom money. In 1971, when East Pakistan became Bangladesh, then they also followed that modified Khul' ruling by Supreme Court of Pakistan.

Also women struggle succeeded in reducing the time period in the Faskh rulings in favour of women.

Nevertheless, it became a cause of conflict between the Supreme Court of Pakistan, and the Islamic Scholars, while the later consider this new Khul' law against the Quran and Sunnah.

For details, please read these Study 1^[4] and Study 2^[5]. The abstract from study 2 is as under:

References