Holy Qur’ān, of which the third is irrevocable, were of very rare occurrence, as such divorces naturally occurred at long intervals. The case of Rukānah is mentioned in the reports; he first divorced his wife in the time of the Holy Prophet, then remarried her and divorced her a second time in the reign of ‘Umar, and finally in the caliphate of ‘Uthmān (ZM. II, p. 258).

Procedure of divorce

Divorce may be given orally, or in writing, but it must take place in the presence of witnesses: “So when they have reached their prescribed time, retain them with kindness or dismiss them with kindness, and call to witness two just ones from among you, and give upright testimony for Allāh” (65:2). Whatever the actual words used, they must expressly convey the intention that the marriage tie is being dissolved. As to whether a divorce would be effective under certain circumstances, there are differences among the various schools of jurists. Evidently, intention is as necessary a factor in the dissolution of marriage as in the marriage itself; but while some recognize that divorce is ineffective if given under compulsion or influence, or in a state of intoxication, or in anger or jest, or by mistake or inadvertence, others hold it to be ineffective in some of these cases and effective in others. The Ḥanafī law recognizes that divorce is effective whether the words be uttered in sport or jest or in a state of drunkenness and whether a person utters them willingly or under compulsion, but Imām Shāfi‘ī takes the opposite view (H.I, p. 337). Evidently the Ḥanafī views are against the spirit of the teachings of the Holy Qur’ān which declares divorce to be a very serious matter, and lays down special procedure to be gone through before it is resorted to.

Ilā’

Ilā’ and ẓihār were two practices of the pre-Islamic days by which the wife was kept in a state of suspense, sometimes for the whole of her life. Ilā’, which means literally swearing, signifies technically the taking of an oath that one shall not go into one’s wife. In the pre-Islamic days the