Sexuality in Islam – Divorce

Author: Hasan Yahya, Professor of Sociology

The issue of this article is about one type of divorce in Islam. A Muslim used to swear NOT by God, but to divorce his wife if she did so and so. If he did that three times in close periods, or in one time, his wife legally should be divorced. For more humiliation, if he was in love with her, or wealthy person to loose, the legal judge will according to Shari’a (Islamic jurisprudence law), to marry another person for one night or more. If she wanted to go back to her husband, she might return with a new dowry and new marriage contract. Arabic plays (Adel Imam’s play: al-wad Sayyed al-Nashal) and TV shows in almost all Arab countries, usually make fun of this practice, they made the wife fall in love with the new husband, and refuse to return back to her first husband. However, to get rid of the stress, and anxiety of swearing of divorce, the husband makes agreement with someone (anyone, may accept to mary the wife for one night, and divorce her in the second. But when the shikh (the Ma’zoon) who performs marriage and divorce contracts, asks the new husband, if he got into the wife, as husband and wife do. If he knew they did not have intercourse, then he will refuse to grant the divorce. This a humiliating experience for the husbands who always swear to divorce their wives in a moment of anger. This practice is known in Islamic culture. So husbands pay the high price of their anger and anxiety. Think of the story and let the patients under stress to give their responses if they were playing their roles. They will get more understanding of their situation. You begin to share as a sociotherapist patient’s trust and understanding. I guess. www.hasanyahya.com

Article Source

Here is a translated decree that was issued by the Taleban during their rule of the country:

"Women, you must not leave your homes. If you do, you must not be like those women who wore fashionable clothes and make-up and exposed themselves to every man, before Islam came to the country.

...If women dress fashionably, wear ornamented, tight, seductive clothes to show off, they will be damned by the Islam Sharia and expect never to go to heaven. They will be threatened, investigated and severely punished by the religious police, as will the head of the family.... (Source: The Bookseller of Kabul by Asne Seierstad).

Interestingly, the vast majority of women continue to wear the burqas; I think its a personal choice but its important that people realise that the Taleban were not representative of mainstream Islam and that their ideology has no place in the world". Flickr.com, Photoblog of the Autor

About the Author
Hasan Yahya is an American Arab scholar, and a professor of sociology. He published 20 plus books and 195 plus articles on sociology, psychology, politics, poetry, IQ Test Measurement and short stories in both Arabic and English. His articles may be found on articlesbase.com, Face book and other internet sites. His recent book published on Amazon titled: Lawlaki: Lawlaki Poetry Diwan, 2000 Bayt Min al-Shi'r al-Arabi (from Emri’ al-Qays to Nizar Qabbani) ,Zawjatu al-Sultan, and al-Zawaj fil-‘Alam, all in Arabic.(On Amazon, 2009). His recent activities reflects his talents and knowledge on youtube’s Dr.Yahya Channel TV videos under the name of askdryahya.