Altway (Feb 29) accused me of ignorance in my brief account of the Shariah
law of marriage; he produced no evidence that what I had to say was in
error. Here follows more detail of the legal provisions I mentioned. I am
unable to reproduce Khomeini's description of the kind of ***ual relations
with children that are permissible (following Muhammad's example) under
Islam: it seems that the Moderator(s) cannot stomach the facts.
First the husband can divorce without legal process. There is a
valuable book, "Light of Life", published on the Answering Islam
website; it gives full references to the Arabic. Here is their account
of divorce by uttering three sentences:
'The talaqu 'l-badi, or "irregular form of divorce," is when the
husband repudiates his wife by three sentences, either express or
metaphorical, given them one at a time; "Thou art divorced! Thou art
divorced! Thou art divorced!" Or, "Thou art free! Thou art free! Thou
art free!" Even holding up three fingers, or dropping three stones, is
held to be a sufficiently implied divorce to take legal effect. The
Muslim who thus divorces his wife is held, in the Hidayah, to be an
offender against the law, but the divorce, however irregular, takes
legal effect. '
"Light of Life " also confirms my claim that only the husband has the
right to divorce and does not have to give reasons;
'Only the man has the right to divorce, and he does not have to give
any reasons.' Al-Ikhtiyar 3:182
'Jurisprudents of all schools of thought believe that a man is not
obliged to state any reason if he divorces his wife.' Al-Jaziri
4:322-332
Next the fact that a man has to sup****t his wife during the period of
'probation' after the utterance of the divorce, but not after. This
quotation comes from an anonymous writer on Answering Islam
(answering-islam.org.uk/BehindVeil);
'Let us listen to the al-Bukhari as he explains to us (Part VII, pages
145-
'"The husband's liability to sup****t time wife continues during the
whole period of probation, if the separation has been caused by any
conduct of his, or has taken place in exercise of a right possessed by
her. The husband would not, however, be liable to sup****t the wife
during the iddat, if the separation is caused by her misconduct.
Fatawa-i-Alamgiri, p. 746; Jama-ush-Shattat, Fatawa-i-Kazi Khan p.
481.
'"If she is pregnant at the time of separation her right remains
intact until she is confined of the child.'
Everyone knows that in inheritance females only get half a male's
share, but here's the Koranic source:
'Allah chargeth you concerning your children-to the male a ****tion
equivalent to that of two females' (Chapter 4: 11).
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