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