| Answer: The Qur'ān explicitly states that it is the
husband who has the right to divorce:
In his hands, is the tie of marriage. (2:237)
Women, however, can seek divorce if they want to.
This prerogative, sense and reason demand, should go to
the head of the family. Since, according to the Qur'ān, it is the husband who
is the head of a family, therefore, he has been given this right. In other
words, this right is not "gender specific" it is "authority specific": whoever
is entrusted with the authority of being the head should possess this right.
Had women been more suitable to head a family, they would have been given this
right.
The statement in the marriage form which grants the wife
the right to divorce therefore seems against the directives of Islam. |