Quickie divorce banned, Muslim women empowered

http://www.ibnlive.com/news/quickie-divorce-banned-muslim-women-empowered/61346-3...

Lucknow: The All India Muslim Women Personal Law Board on Sunday came
out with a nikahnama, which explicitly bars men from declaring talaq
(divorce) in anger, intoxication or partial sleep or even by phone,
SMS or Internet.

The model nikahnama (divorce declaration) aimed at providing Muslim
women protection from undue oppression by their husbands, spells out
the wife's legitimate rights, granted under the Shariat, as also the
duties of both husband and wife. It emphasises the importance of
marriage and discourages divorce.

"We have framed the new nikahnama strictly in accordance with the
tenets of Islam, which clearly prohibits any kind of harassment or
oppression of a married woman by her husband or any member of his
family," the women's board chief Shaista Amber told a press conference
in Lucknow on Sunday.

It also lays down how a Muslim woman is legally entitled to separation
from a promiscuous husband. Besides, it also spells out that a wife
can seek separation if the husband abandons her for more than four
years or if he forces her to indulge in unnatural sex.

According to Amber, "The Shariat entitles a woman to take separation
on grounds of incompatibility, even if the husband refuses to divorce
her".

"All that the woman is required to do is to tell the husband to leave
her alone and pay him either the 'mehr' amount or something else in
lieu of the 'mehr'," she said.

Enumerating the other grounds on which a Muslim woman was empowered to
divorce her husband, Amber said: "Islam allows a woman to seek divorce
if the husband does not have physical relationship with the wife for
more than a year, or suffers from AIDS, or has illicit relationship
with other women or tortures her in any manner."

The new nikahnama also lays down that a husband is expected to provide
"cooked food" and "stitched clothes" to his wife.