Monday, 8, May, 2006 (10, Rabi` al-Thani, 1427)
The Plight of Divorced Women
Edited by Adil Salahi
Q. In Western countries, when divorce takes place, the woman takes half the husband's property. In Islam the woman is left on her own, with nothing to survive on. If she becomes a dependent of her parents or her brothers, she is made to feel herself a burden. She is often ill treated. Few divorcees have a chance of getting married again. Her life is ruined. How can she survive?
M.Y. Qureshi
Dammam
A. The entire social system is different in the West, where a woman has to work for her living, throughout her life. Thus, when she gets married, she contributes to the family finances. She shares in paying for the house she and her family live in, and she makes an equal payment to the family budget. As such, it is only fair that she takes half the family assets when the marriage breaks up.
Islamic law is made for Islamic society, and applied by a Muslim community whose members know that they are answerable to God for their deeds. In an Islamic society, no woman has to work for her living. Her living expenses are the responsibility of her parents, her husband, or her brothers or other relatives. In this case, she contributes little or nothing to the family finances. How could she claim half the assets if the marriage breaks up?
I realize that many Muslim women suffer a great deal as a result of being divorced. But this has nothing to do with Islam. It has much to do with the local culture or traditions.
Take, for example, the case of a divorcee's second marriage. In some Muslim societies, a divorcee is presumed responsible for the collapse of her marriage. People do not inquire into the case before blaming the woman for the divorce. But this is totally un-Islamic. It is often the case that the man is more to blame for his marriage ending in divorce. Besides, divorce is made lawful by God, so that an unsuccessful marriage is terminated in a way satisfactory to both parties and to their children.
Unfortunately, circumstances and local traditions may get in the way and prevent the proper implementation of Islamic rules. In a poor family, where a man can hardly manage to look after his wife and his own children, he does not want to increase his burden by looking after a divorced sister. In communities like those of the Indian subcontinent, where traditions are borrowed from non-Muslim communities, the marriage of a woman is a financial burden for her parents. When she is divorced, she gets nothing back. The financial loss to her family is huge. Hence, divorce is not looked upon as a case where two people are not compatible. It is a case of wasting life savings. Hence, a woman is expected to stick it out, whatever the situation is, in order not to be the cause of wasting such an amount of money. Hence, tradition has militated against the welfare of divorced women. The answer to all these problems is that Islamic rules are applied in society, in all aspects of life. This ensures fairness for all.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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