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Fatwa CenterWomen divorcing their husbands in Western courts
Question
It is common in Europe for Muslim women to go to positive courts to divorce their husbands, since the laws of these countries allow a woman to divorce her husband without his consent or permission. Now, the question, is it considered a valid divorce in Shariah? Is her marriage to another man, while the first husband did not divorce her according to Shariah valid? What should the first husband do?
Answer
Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds; and may His blessings and peace be upon our Prophet Muhammad and upon all his Family and Companions.
A Muslim is not allowed to go to non-Islamic courts in any case, thus the solution of marriage and divorce matters too should not be solved in non-Islamic courts. If a husband and wife need to settle their dispute and they do not have any Islamic court in their area, they have to refer it to authentic Muslim scholars or an Islamic Center to look into their matters. If they take the decision of Talaq after considering the reasons that approve Talaq, the husband should submit to their rulings. If the husband does not accept the Islamic rulings and his wife is facing harm, she has the right to sue him in the country’s court to protect herself from harm and to take her right. This is only to bind the husband with the rulings that are already issued by the Islamic authorities.
We remind all husbands and wives to fear Allah. A husband should know that Allah granted him the power of divorce only due to his strength, responsibility and for bearing the expenditure of his wife. It is not to humiliate a wife or to abuse her. On the other hand, a wife should be obedient to her husband in lawful matters, follow the rulings of Shariah, and should not violate his rights using the positive courts.
Any divorce that is enforced through the courts except for the purpose mentioned before is not valid. If a woman gets married based on this divorce she commits Zina, may Allah protect us from that.
Therefore, the husband should inform the family of the woman of the evil she is committing. Also he should try his best, together with the family members to prevent her from such a sin. If he cannot do so, he should divorce her to avoid keeping an adulterer in his marriage bond.
Allah knows best.
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