In Islamic Family Law Women's Rights to Divorce Their Husbands

Abstract

The religion of Islam gave great value to the institution of the family, and gave extensive orders and recommendations in the case of its construction, maintenance and termination. While Islam regards marriage as an innate need and the basis of happiness, it considers it necessary to have mutual understanding, respect and love between husband and wife for the continuation of marriage. However, reasons such as the different natures of people, the diversity of their understanding and tastes, and the occurrence of some negative events can wear down the strong marriage bond over time. Warm nests of spouses get cold. Even togetherness can turn into suffering and ordeal instead of happiness. In such a case, the spouses will either live in sadness and unhappiness, or they will leave and seek a new door of happiness. At this point, Islam sees divorce as legitimate so that spouses do not harm each other and achieve new happiness. The subject of talaq - divorce in Islamic family law has been handled and discussed from many different aspects. One of these debates is who will decide on the divorce, who will be authorized in this and whether the woman can divorce her husband. According to Islam, while men have the right to divorce directly, this right is given to women with certain principles. However, in general, women in Muslim societies are unaware of the existence of such rights. Islam has authorized three kinds of divorce for a woman who is not satisfied with her husband and cannot find the happiness she seeks in her marriage. These are muhâlea, tefviz-i talak and divorce by court. These methods have their own rules and qualifications. In this paper, we aim to present the situation of women in divorce, their powers and how they can use these powers within the framework of Islamic law.