LUCKNOW: A Lucknow woman has run up against opposition from clerics in her attempt to divorce her husband as per the Islamic practice of ‘khula’. While women activists advise her that the marriage would be automatically stand annulled if she correctly followed the ‘Khula’ method, clerics say a formal annulment by them is still necessary.
After being married for 12 years, Sajida Khatoon, 35, a school teacher, sent a 'khula' (divorce initiated by a married Muslim woman) notice to her husband from whom she has been separated for 18 months.
In fact, Sajida is believed to have signed a Khula notice on Saturday in the presence of media persons at a press conference and sent it to her husband. According to an activist, Sajida informed her husband that she had already entered 'iddat'— the waiting period of three menstrual cycles to allow for any possibility of reconciliation — and that at the end of the period, she would be free from the marriage ties.
"Her marriage gets dissolved after iddat and she doesn't need a cleric," stressed the women activist.
However, clerics have refused to accept her contention, saying seeking khula in such a manner was not tantamount to divorce.
Sajida claimed that her husband and in-laws were not ready to give her a divorce. "I contacted several clerics after separating from my husband but they insisted on his consent,” she stated.
Meanwhile, according to senior Sunni cleric Maulana Khalid Rasheed Farangi Mahli, who is also an executive committee member of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board, a minimum of three notices must reach the husband from the woman seeking a divorce after which a cleric would pronounce the marriage annulled. But that can happen only after three attempts of reconciliation between the woman and her husband.
"In this case, Sajida Khatoon submitted her complaint to our office on August 21 and we sent a notice to her husband. She did not wait for his reply,” the cleric said, questioning her move of calling a press conference and making a public announcement of her decision to divorce her husband.
Shia cleric Maulana Saif Abbas said, "Only a mujtahid (accepted authority on Islamic law) or his advocate can dissolve a marriage after three notices in three months."
However, Sajida felt that if her husband and in-laws were not ready to accept her notice of Khula they were free to move the court.