Resolutions of Iftaa' Board



Resolutions of Iftaa' Board

Resolution No.(216): "Divorce Given in Anger and Bid'aa/Innovative Divorce: Effective or not"

Date Added : 21-12-2015

Resolution No.(216)(6/2015) by the Board of Iftaa`, Research and Islamic Studies:

"Divorce Given in Anger and Bedai`/Innovative Divorce: Effective or not"

Date: 28/ Shawal/ 1436 AH, corresponding to 13/8/2015 AD.

 

On the above given date, the Board reviewed the question asked by the Islamic Fatwa Council, Jerusalem, Palestine, about divorce given in a state of anger and Bedai`/innovative divorce in terms of their effectiveness?

After thorough deliberations, the Board decided the following:

Muslim Jurists have classified anger into three types:

First: Extreme Anger: The person gets furious and his anger is so high that he no longer has control over his mind and is no longer aware of his actions and words. Muslim Jurists have agreed that there is no doubt that the actions and words of such a person aren`t effective. This is based on the following Hadith: The Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said: "There is no divorce and no manumission at the time of coercion." [Abu Dawood and Ahmad].

Second: Minimum Anger: The person gets angry but not so extreme. He controls himself and perceives his words and actions; the divorce of such person is valid without any objection amongst the Muslim scholars.

Third: Medium Anger: The person whose condition is between these two conditions. He becomes extremely angry, but he doesn`t reach the degree of an insane person as mentioned in the first condition, not losing his mind totally. The Jordanian Personal Status Code calls such person "Madhoosh." 

Muslim scholars have differed concerning the ruling of such a person. Their majority said that his divorce takes place; whereas, Ibn Taymiah and Ibn Qayim Al-Jawzieh, Hanbalite scholars, and Ibn Abdeen - a Hanafite scholar, said that it doesn`t. Ibn Abdeen stated: "I believe that it isn`t obligatory that the Madhoosh and the angry don`t realize what they say, it suffices that they are delirious and their talk at that moment is a mix of joking and seriousness ." {Radd Al-Mohtaar}.

Accordingly, the Jordanian Civil Status Law No.(36)/2010, article(86) and the Board of Iftaa`, Research and Islamic Studies rule that divorce in a state of Medium Anger doesn`t take place, whether in the first, second or third pronouncement of divorce based on the principle of "intention" and the Sharia evidence that remove the hardship facing the mistaken, the insane and the coerced. The same ruling applies to persons whose minds are in a state of confusion and lack the capacity to choose.

As for Bedai /innovative divorce (When a person divorces his wife after he sleeps with her while she is in a state of ritual purity), it has several forms and there is disagreement whether some of them are considered Sunni or Beda`i. What counts here is that the Jordanian Board of Iftaa` rules that all forms of Bedai`/ innovative divorce take place, except that which is accompanied with a number of divorce pronouncements either by utterance or signal, and repeating the pronouncement of divorce in the same council, only one divorce takes place. Whereas, the divorce of the woman observing  iddah(waiting period) doesn`t take place at all based on a Fatwa of Ibn Taymiah so as to facilitate for the Muslims and hinder the devil from seducing them to destroy their families. Most of the contemporary scholars have adopted this opinion based on the following Hadith: Ibn 'Abbas (Allah be pleased with them) reported that the (pronouncement) of three divorces during the lifetime of Allah's Messenger (PBUH) and that of Abu Bakr and two years of the caliphate of Umar (Allah be pleased with him) (was treated) as one. But Umar b. Khattab (Allah be pleased with him) said: "Verily the people have begun to hasten in the matter in which they are required to observe respite. So if we had imposed this upon them, he imposed it upon them." {Muslim}.

This opinion has also been adopted in articles (81) and (89) of the Jordanian Personal Status Law, 36/2010. And Allah Knows Best.

 

The Grand Mufti of Jordan, Sheikh Abdulkareem Al-Khasawneh

Dr. Abdulnnassir Abulbasal

Sheikh Sa`eid Hijjawi

Dr. Jameel Khatatbeh, Deputized Mufti of the Armed Forces

Dr. Mohammad Khair Al-Esa

Dr. Wasif Al-Bakhri

Dr. Mohammad Al-Qhodat

Dr. Mohammad Al-Khalayleh

Dr. Mohammad Al-Zo`bi

 

 

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Summarized Fatawaa

Is it permissible for a wife to give her money to her family as a charity, or a gift without asking her husband, or seeking his consent?

The wife has the right to give her money as a charity, or a gift to her family, or to other people after consulting her husband out of respect, and this is the meaning of treating on footing of kindness and equity. Therefore, if he wanted to stop her from helping her family, then there is no harm in not telling him.

Is it permissible for a pious Muslim woman to stay with her husband who had quit praying out of laziness?

Quitting prayer is one of the major grave sins that come after disbelieving in Allah, but the wife of such a person isn`t considered divorced, rather, she should exert all her efforts in order to bring him back to the way of Islam. However, if his sin is likely to lure her from the way of Islam, then she had better separate from him by lawful means such as Mokhal`aa (When a wife pays a compensation for her husband in return for divorcing her). Moreover, if she exercises patience, and remains steadfast on her faith, then there is no harm in doing that.

Is it permissible to slaughter a sheep on Eid al-Adha with the intention of charity (sadaqah) on behalf of a sick person, and with the intention of udhiyah (sacrificial animal) at the same time?

Praise be to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon our Master, the Messenger of Allah.
 
The udhiyah (sacrificial animal) is an act of worship intended for its own sake; therefore, it must be slaughtered with the intention (niyyah) of udhiyah.
 
Whoever intends to draw closer to Allah through this act of obedience with the intention of udhiyah, and also intends to gift the reward to another person, there is no Islamic objection to that. And Allah Almighty knows best.

I`m infatuated with a man, is it permissible for me to make supplication that he falls in love with me and becomes my husband?

Islam has honored women by being proposed to by men, and not the other way around, so it is inappropriate for a woman to propose to a man since one who hastens in asking for a thing prematurely shall be punished by deprivation. In fact, such a phenomenon is the result of unlawful mixing between the two sexes.