By  Madhulika Liddle

Islam allows for a practice called Halala: if a man divorces his wife but then wants to marry her again, she must first be married to another man, then divorced (or widowed) before she can be remarried to her first husband. In its essence, it sounds logical, because divorce must not be an impulsive decision. The decision must be considered, attempts must be made at counselling, and parting should happen only if there is no other way out.

In Noor Zaheer’s Denied by Allah, the author offers several real life case studies. Sakina, for instance, married to a drunk man, finds herself divorced one night when, in a drunken fury, he pronounces ‘talaq’ thrice. The next morning, he is repentant and wants to marry her again—but it is too late. Sakina now has to go through a hundred-day period of Iddat, where she remains housebound, unseen by strange men, until she can marry another. The husband quickly finds a solution: his younger brother will marry Sakina and divorce her after one night. But the younger brother cannot bring himself to consummate the relationship with his former bhabhi. So Sakina has to marry another man (and obtain a divorce from him) before being free to marry her first husband. Read more

Source: The New Indian Express