Muslim man told Skype divorce joke stands

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | UK Desk
Source/Credit: The Daily Telegraph
By Dean Nelson in New Delhi  | October 29, 2010

A Muslim man who told his wife "I divorce thee" three times in an online Skype messenger conversation has been told the separation stands.

The ruling, made in an online fatwa by the Darul Uloom Deobandi seminary in northern India, regarded as one of Islam's leading authorities on religious law said that the woman would have to first marry another man before she could remarry her first husband.

The man, from Qatar, wrote to the seminary following his Skype joke to seek clarification.

"Jokingly typed 'talak, talak, talak' (I divorce thee, I divorce thee, I divorce thee) to my wife on Skype chat. I don't understand Islam very much and did not know about how talaq works. We love each other very much and want to be together but right now [we are] caught in this thing. Want to know a way out," he wrote.


His hopes of a "way out" were dashed when the seminary issued a fatwa confirming his wife must first remarry another man, consummate the marriage, and then divorce him before she could be allowed to remarry her first husband.

"When you gave three talaqs, your wife became "haram" (forbidden) for you. Neither you have the right to take her back nor solemnise a new "nikah" (marriage) without a valid "halalah" (second marriage). After the completion of "iddah" (a three month waiting period following a divorce), the woman can marry whomever she wishes except you," the fatwa stated.

The ruling means it the couple will have to wait at least six months to remarry and bear the strain of the wife remarrying, having sex with another man, and divorcing again.

"Allah and his Prophet has said the worst thing a couple does is to seek divorce. This is a hated act but the provision for Talaq in Islam is for unavoidable circumstances not for teasing or jokes," said Maulana Arshid Madani, President of Jamiat-Ulama-i-Hind, one of the largest Muslim organisations in India.



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