This book focuses on the issue of gender bias in the Muslim law of divorce in India, especially unilateral talaq, and examines the relevant statutory and the Shariat law as interpreted in India. The author has used as sources, the Quranic verses, practices of the Prophet, and judicial pronouncements. In addition the author also relies on newspaper articles and other books quoting various eminent jurists and social commentators. The author also provides empirical data and statistics gathered by him. The book includes a full discussion of the Dissolution of Muslim Marriage Act 1939, the Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act 1937, the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act 1986 and the Maintenance for divorced women under section 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure 1973. It examines the constitutional validity of unilateral talaq, the harsh reality of life after talaq faced by divorced women, their families, and children. It discusses the reforms in the Muslim Personal Law of other countries such as Egypt, Malaysia and Turkey. It also includes the author’s suggestions for remedial measures to curb gender bias and male domination in the matter of talaq in Muslim Personal Law. This book is first of its kind which seeks to examine in detail the issue of gender equity in the matter of divorce in Muslim personal law of India through three dimensional perspective; legal, sociological and Constitutional, relying on substantive empirical data.

Table of Contents:
Contents Foreword by—Justice S A Kader v Preface by—Dr Kauser Edappagath ix Acknowledgment xi Table of Cases xvii Table of Statutes xxiii Abbreviations xxvii Introduction 1 Divorce under Muslim law: Concept and Practice 2 Plight of Divorced Muslim Women 4 Judicial Trends 9 Reforms in Muslim World 10 The Scope of Research 11 Objectives of the study 18 Hypotheses 19 Research Methodology 20 The Scheme of the Chapters 21 1 Marriage: Conceputal Analysis 23 1.1 Origin and Development of the Institution of Marriage 23 1.2 Madras High Court ruling on Presumption of Marriage 26 1.3 Marriage under Muslim Law 33 1.3.1 Pre-Islamic Background: 34 1.4 Contract or Sacrament? 37 1.4.1 Characteristics, Classifications, and Legal Incident of Muslim Marriage: 41 1.4.2. Mehr–A Novel feature of Muslim Matrimonial Law 48 1.4.3 Polygamy: Whether Rule or Exception? 50 2 Divorce: Nature and Concept 57 2.1 Historical Background 58 2.2 Theories of Divorce 63 2.2.1 Guilt or Fault theory 63 2.2.2 Consent Theory 64 2.2.3 Irretrievable Breakdown of Marriage Theory 66 2.3 Divorce under Muslim law 70 3 Talaq: in Theory, in Practice 71 3.1 Pre-Islamic Background 72 3.2 Talaq: Myth and Truth 73 3.3 How valid is unilateral triple talaq? 80 3.4 Whether reason is necessary? 89 3.5 Equating with Modern Divorce Law 92 3.6 Empirical Findings 95 3.7 The way out 98 4 Untying The Knot: at Wife’s Initiative, and on Mutual Terms 101 4.1 Khula: A Right equal to Talaq 101 4.1.1 Distorted views 104 4.1.2 Under Indian Law 106 4.1.3 Empirical Findings 108 4.2 Talaq-e-Tafwiz: A Peculiar doctrine of Muslim Law 109 4.2.1 Polygamy and Talaq-e-Tafwiz: 112 4.3 Mubaraat: Divorce by Mutual Consent 113 4.4 Fuskh: Judicial Divorce 115 4.5 Tafriq (separation following ila, zihar, or lian) 119 4.5.1 Ila 119 4.5.2 Zihar 120 4.5.3 Lian 120 5 Effects and Consequences of Divorce 123 5.1 Social and Psychological problems 124 5.2 Financial Problems 127 5.3 Impact on Children 132 5.4 Scope of Remarriage 135