The Life & Character of the Seal of Prophets (sa) - Volume II — Page 523
XI - Treachery of the Banū Quraiẓah and the End of the Jews in Madīnah, Laws of Marriage and Divorce 523 An outline of the law of divorce should be understood in light of the following points: 1. Since marriage is a civil agreement, it may be terminated as well, but Islām has only permitted this in extreme circumstances, when no other option exists. The Holy Prophet sa would state: ُ اَبْغَض ُ الْحَلَال ِ اِلَی اللّٰه ِ الطَّلَاق “Divorce is most undesirable in the sight of God among the things which Divine law has permitted as being lawful under special circumstances. ” 1 By way of this principle, Islām has given marital relations a kind of sanctity and perpetuity. Muslims have been instructed to never act hastily in severing this relation of marriage, rather, to practice extreme caution. However, despite this, in its capacity as a complete and universal Sharī‘at , Islām has not disregarded that sometimes such circumstances may arise which make it impossible to maintain a pleasant nature in the relations between husband and wife; not only does the domestic life of husband and wife become bitter, rather, this bitterness definitely influences the other aspects of their lives. In these circumstances, there is no other alternative but to end such a relationship with a saddened heart. It is taking extreme circumstances of this very nature into account that God the Exalted has instituted the law of divorce in Islām. 2. The law of divorce has primarily been divided into three parts (we shall put aside such cases of marriage which are against the Sharī‘at or unlawful, and are known as Nikāḥ-e-Bāṭil or Nikāḥ-e-Fāsid according to specific terminology): i. Fasakh-e-Nikāḥ : I shall move away from the general terminology of Islāmic jurisprudence, and include cases of Li‘ān , etc. under this category as well. In other words, this refers to all such cases where it becomes unlawful to maintain a bond of marriage. 1 Sunanu Abī Dāwūd, Kitābuṭ-Ṭalāq, Bābu Fī Karāhiyyatiṭ-Ṭalāq, Ḥadīth No. 2178