Types of Muslim Marriages and Divorce

Muslim Marriage or Nikah is held as a legal civil contract between a man and a woman carried out on the basis of ijab-o-qabool. Ijab is a proposal from one party and Qubool is acceptance from other.  According to Sharia law, this contract is considered as integral to a religiously valid Islamic marriage that legalises sexual relation between man and woman to produce children. The contract is never permanent and can be broken at the will of husband and wife.

Key features of Muslim Marriage

• Marriage in Islam is not considered as sacrament (sacred) but a social contract of obligation between a man and woman to live together and to procreate children.
• This contract is legitimate only when there are two male or one male & two female witnesses and accepted by both the parties in single sitting.
• This contract is not permanent. Couple are not assumed to live together till death. The contract can be broken by seeking divorce by the either party.
• The husband has to pay ‘Mahr’ a payment to the bride before entering in a contract which she can spend as per her will.
• Islam does not allow celibacy as it believes that this leads to all sorts of psychological and physical tensions and problems; though sexual relationship outside marriage is crime in Islam.
• The key difference in marriages between Islam and other faiths is that, to this day, a man may have four wives simultaneously.
• Polyandry is not allowed in Islam, Muslim women are supposed to have only one husband at a time.

Types of Marriages in Muslims

There are four types of marriages practiced by Muslims as follows:

Sahih Marriage

This is the valid form of marriage as per the Sharia Law. The children born from this marriage are legitimate. It is obligatory for husband to pay Mahr as a dower his wife. The wife is entitled to get maintenance from her husband. The husband has rights to prohibit his wife movements under this marriage.

Fasid Marriage

This marriage is an irregular marriage as the two parties fails to fulfil the prerequisite norms required for the valid marriage. Irregularities like marriage without witness, marriage with fifth wife etc.

Muta Marriage {temporary marriage}

This marriage is carried out under a contract for temporary period. It is legitimate in Shia Muslims only. Shia Muslims practice such marriage with a woman from Mahomedan, Jewish, Christian religion.

Batil marriage

This type of marriage is completely unlawful according to Muslim law because the marriage takes place through forced consent of woman and other prohibited grounds. The offspring from such marriage is illegitimate.

Divorce in Muslim marriage

Muslim marriage is not a permanent, husband and wife both can end their marriage by dissolution of contract through divorce. There are six types of divorce in Muslims, where a man and a woman both can seek for divorce.

Talaq

It is the simplest way to end the marriage where the husband simply has to say Talaq thrice in order to discard his wife whenever he chooses to do so for any reasons good, bad or no reason.

Talaq bu Tafweez

This type of divorce is given by the wife to her husband by virtue of the power delegated to her husband at the time of marriage or even thereafter.

Kula

Here the divorce is held by request of the wife in which she has a right to buy her release from marriage from her husband.She has to return the Mahr if she dissolves the marriage through ‘Kula’ divorce otherwise she can keep the Mahr.

Mubaraat

Divorce is held through the mutual consent of both husband and wife where they together decide to separate from the marriage agreement.

Illah

Here the husband swears to God for not having sexual relation with his wife for 4 months and fulfilling the said condition leads to divorce which is irrevocable.

Zibar

It is a mode of divorce in which the husband intentionally compares his wife with his mother or any other female within prohibited degree to end the marriage.

Lian

Here, the wife files a suit for dissolution of marriage for the false charges of adultery on her by her husband.

Divorce through the Dissolution of Muslim Marriage Act, 1939

This act enables a Muslim wife to seek divorce through court on the ground of:

• If the whereabouts of the husband are unknowns for 4 years
• If the husband fails to provide the maintenance of the wife for 2 years
• If the husband has been sentence of imprisonment for 7 years or more.
• If the husband fails to perform martial obligations or if he is impotent from the beginning of the marriage or if the husband is a psycho.
• Repudiation of marriage i.e. if the wife was married before she was 15 she has right to repudiate the marriage before she turns 18.
• If the husband carries habitual assault, if he forces her to lead immoral life or disposes off her property or obstructs her practice of religion these conditions are liable to end the marriage.