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XV
THE QURAN
the husband to ask for divorce when she wishes. This right of the
wife to divorce is called 'isma. When the wife obtains it she is
said to have the
'isma
in her hands. It is customary now to
consider the three divorces pronounced at the same time as one
divorce.
Divorce may take place before and after the marriage is
consummated. Should the bridegroom pronounce the divorce
once or twice before the marriage is consummated; a new
contract and a new dowry are required. The reason why marriage
is saved in this case is that the rest of the divorce formulas have
not been pronounced. But should the third pronouncement of
divorce be made before the consummation of marriage then the
bride has to marry another and have marital relations with him
before going back to the bridegroom. However, the bride who
gets divorced before the consummation of marriage is entitled to
half the dowry.
If after the consummation of marriage the husband pronounces
divorce once or twice, he still can save the marriage as long as
the wife is in the waiting period (
'idda
). But if the waiting period
is over, a new contract and a new dowry are required to make the
marriage lawful. The reason for enabling the husband, in this
case, to save the marriage, is that the third divorce was not
pronounced. But if the husband divorces three times after the
consummation of the marriage, then he cannot go back to the
wife except after she gets married to another, and had marital
relations with him.
No expiation is required in the case of pronouncing the divorce
and in the case of going back to the wife.