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6. Every marriage, in order to be legal, must be witnessed by two adults and registered
in official documents
7. Complete maintenance of the wife is the husband’ s duty. She is entitled to that by
virtue of marriage. If she happens to have any property or possessions, that will be
hers before and after marriage; the husband has no right whatsoever to any portion or
share of his wife’ s property. This is to restrict marriage to its noble purposes and
disentangle it from all unworthy objectives
With all these measures, it can be seen that Islam has given all possible assurances to
make marriage a happy companionship and a solid foundation of continuous harmony
and permanent peace. But in view of the fact that human behavior is changeable and
sometimes unpredictable, Islam takes a realistic outlook on life and makes allowances
for all unexpected events. Marriage, as has been said, has decent and noble purposes
which must be fulfilled. Islam does not accept or recognize any marriage which is not
functional and effective. There can be no nominal or idle marriage. There must be a
successful marriage or no marriage at all. Marriage is too solemn a contract to be
stationary or non-effective. So if it does not serve its purpose or function properly, it
may be terminated by divorce with conservation of all rights of the parties concerned.
This is because there is no point in keeping a nominal and worthless contract, and to
save human kind from being tied by vows which cannot be honored
When the Islamic marriage, which is based on the said regulations and governed by
the said precautions, does not function properly, there must be some very serious
obstacles in the way, something that cannot be overcome by reconciliation. In a
situation like this, divorce is applicable. However, it is the last resort because it is
described by the Prophet as the most detestable of all lawful things in the sight of
God. But before taking this final and desperate step, some attempts must be made in
the following order:
1. The two parties involved must try to settle their disputes and solve their problems
between themselves
2. If they fail, two arbitrators, one from the husband's relations and the other from the
wife's, must be commissioned to try to make peace between them and settle their
differences
3. If this attempt also fails, divorce might be applied
In applying divorce to such a difficult situation, Islamic Law requires that it should be
agreed upon by both parties, and grants each of them the right of seeking divorce. It
does not confine the right of divorce to the man only or to the woman alone. Both can
exercise this right. If either one of the two parties does not feel secure or happy with
the other who arbitrarily refuses to grant divorce, and if the demand of divorce is
found justifiable, the court must interfere and help the wronged party to obtain a
divorce. It is the duty of the Law administrators to see to it that all rights are preserved
and that harm is minimized
After the divorce takes place, there is waiting period during which the divorcee is
completely supported and maintained by her former husband. She cannot marry
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