Question

If the intent is to discourage taking ‘divorce’ as a mere play, why is it interpreted that a man can simple re-marry a lady after two “finalized” divorces? This seems to preach that divorce isn’t that serious a matter.

Answer

Before answering your question, I would first like to clarify the point in which there apparently seems to be some confusion regarding the law of divorce.

The husband has a right to revoke his decision of divorce only within the waiting period. At the end of the waiting period, the man and the woman will stand divorced after which the husband will no longer have the authority to revoke his decision. However, after the expiry of the waiting period, the husband and wife are allowed to remarry each other. The authority of revocation granted to the husband can be exercised after two incidents of divorce in a marriage. If, unfortunately, there is a third incident of divorce in a marriage, then the husband can neither revoke his decision to divorce, nor can he marry the woman after the expiry of the waiting period.

The allowance of revocation of divorce after two incidents of divorce is a step to safeguard a family from breaking-up, in case the incident of divorce has occurred in an outburst of anger from either of the two individuals, as is generally the case. In this manner, the Qur’an has maintained a balance between making a provision for avoiding severance of a family, on the one hand, and making it almost impossible to reunite with one’s wife if one is careless about it.

I hope this helps.

Moiz Amjad
December 23, 2004