the respective people of the two parties. They are required first to try to reconcile the parties to each other, failing which divorce is to be effected. Therefore, though it is the husband who pronounces the divorce, he is as much bound by the decision of the arbiters as is the wife. This shows that the husband cannot repudiate the marriage at will. The case must first be referred to two arbiters and their decision is binding. The Caliph ‘Alī is reported to have told a husband, who thought he had the sole right to divorce, that he would have to abide by the judgment of the arbiters appointed under this verse (Rz. III, p. 320). The Holy Prophet is reported to have intervened and disallowed a divorce pronounced by a husband, restoring the marital relations (Bu. 68:1,2). It was no doubt a matter of procedure, but it shows that the authority constituted by law has the right to interfere in matters of divorce. The only question is as to the procedure to be adopted when the Muslims are living under non-Muslim rule. In such a case, if no judge has been appointed by the authorities, the appointment of the judges shall be in the hands of the Muslim community, and it may exercise that right in any way it likes. If, therefore, a Muslim government or the Muslim community makes any rules laying down the procedure of divorce and placing such limitations upon the husband in matters of divorce as are not inconsistent with the principles laid down by the Holy Qur’ān, it would be quite Islamic.
The menstrual discharge is looked upon as pollution in many religions, and the woman who has her courses on is segregated, as among the Hindūs and the Jews. In the Holy Qur’ān, the subject of menstruation is dealt with as a preliminary to that of divorce, and sexual intercourse is prohibited when the courses are on, as it is said to be “harmful” (2:222). It is owing to this temporary cessation of the sexual relations between the husband and the wife that divorce is prohibited during the period when the menstrual discharge is on. It was brought to the notice of the Holy Prophet that Ibn ‘Umar had divorced his wife while she was menstruating. The divorce was declared to be illegal by the Holy Prophet, and Ibn ‘Umar was asked to take