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Divorce in Islam

• Imam Abdulai, the Author
• Imam Abdulai, the Author

In another instance, the Prophet (PBUH) recommended arbitration and family intervention in cases of marital disputes.

“If you fear dissension between the two, send an arbitrator from his family and an arbitrator from her family. If they both desire reconciliation, Allah will cause it between them” (Qur’an 4:35).

This Quranic text emphasises the importance of seeking reconciliation through family and community support.

Conditions and Rules of Divorce in Islam

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Islam sets forth conditions and rules to ensure that divorce is handled respon­sibly:

Clear Intention: The decision to di­vorce must be made with a clear mind and sincere intention, free from anger or impulsivity.

The Waiting Period (Iddah): After pronouncing divorce, the wife must ob­serve an iddah period, during which the husband can take her back if both agree. The iddah period is three menstrual cy­cles for a non-pregnant woman or until childbirth if she is pregnant.

Revocable and Irrevocable Divorce:

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Revocable Divorce (Talaq-e-Raj’i): The husband can take back his wife with­in the iddah period if reconciliation is achieved.

Irrevocable Divorce (Talaq-e-Ba’in): After the third talaq, the divorce is final, and reconciliation is only possible through a new marriage contract if both agree.

Respect and Dignity: Islam commands respect and fairness during divorce proceedings, ensuring that both parties maintain dignity. Allah (SWT) advises:

“And live with them in kindness. For if you dislike them—perhaps you dislike a thing and Allah makes therein much good” (Qur’an 4:19).

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This verse encourages respect, even if differences arise.

Rights to Seek Divorce by the Husband or Wife

Islam grants both spouses the right to seek divorce, although their procedures differ.

Rights of the Husband (Talaq): A husband has the right to initiate talaq, following Islamic procedures. He must observe fairness, fulfill his wife’s rights, and provide any outstanding mahr or iddah maintenance.

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Rights of the Wife (Khula): A wife can seek divorce through khula, which involves returning part or all of her mahr to end the marriage. The Prophet (PBUH) permitted khula for the wife of Thabit ibn Qays (RA) when she requested separation.

“Then if you fear that they will not be able to keep [within] the limits of Allah, then there is no blame upon either of them concerning that by which she ran­soms herself” (Qur’an 2:229).

Reasons for a divorce by both parties

In order to divorce a wife, a husband may not necessarily have to give a rea­son. However, in the case of a woman, she may initiate a Khula (Separation) for three reasons; her husband’s in ability to consummate the marriage, his failure to provide for her upkeep, and if the wom­an was married as a child or without her consent she can repudiate her husband when she reaches puberty (Mucai-Kat­tambo et al. 1995). In addition a woman can apply for a khula if she persistently faces domestic violent.

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Divorce Under Legal Regimes: The Mohammedan Ordinance CAP 129

In Ghana, the Mohammedan Ordinance CAP 129 regulates Islamic marriages and divorces. It provides a formal legal framework for Muslims to marry, di­vorce, and remarry in line with Sharia principles. This ensures that divorce proceedings, rights, and responsibili­ties are recognized by law, protecting both parties’ rights according to Islamic teachings.

Remedies for a Wrongful Divorce

Reconciliation: Islam encourages rec­onciliation if a divorce was issued hast­ily. The Prophet (PBUH) often advised families to mediate, promoting forgive­ness and mutual understanding.

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Financial and Social Support: If a husband neglects his wife’s rights upon divorce, she can claim compensation, unpaid mahr, and iddah maintenance. Islam emphasises justice and fairness for divorced women to ensure they are not left destitute.

Community Support: The Muslim com­munity is encouraged to provide support for divorced individuals, allowing them to reintegrate with dignity and support, upholding Islamic principles of compas­sion.

EFFECTS OF DIVORCE ON CHILDREN

One significant concern is the impact of divorce on children. Patel et al. (2008) in “The Harm of Talaq” note that children from broken homes face higher risks of emotional distress, academic challenges, and social instability. Par­ents must consider these effects when making decisions, ensuring the wellbeing of their children.

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More precisely, children from broken homes are more likely to have poorer health; to do worse in madrassas and schools; less likely to attend the massa­jid; become hufaz and Islamic scholars; more likely to commit crime, to smoke and take drugs; to be unemployed and to die earlier than children who live with married parents. By divorcing par­ents have let loose a vicious cycle. Their children are more likely to repeat the cycle of unstable parenting which they had experienced and suffered (Patel et al., 2008).

In conclusion, divorce in Islam is a compassionate solution, regulated to ensure justice and respect. While it is permitted, it is only to be used as a last resort, with the utmost care and fairness. Islam emphasizes kindness, patience, and thoughtful reconciliation to resolve marital issues before resorting to divorce.

May Allah (SWT) guide us to act with wisdom and justice in our relationships and protect our families with love and mercy. Ameen.

References:

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• Qur’an, Surah Al-Baqarah (2:229, 2:230, 2:231, 2:232, 2:236, 2:237), Surah An-Nisa (4:19, 4:35), Surah At-Talaq (65:4)

• Hadith from Sunan Abu Dawud (2178), Sahih Bukhari, Sahih Muslim

• Mohammedan Ordinance CAP 129

• Patel, A. A. et al., 2008), Blessings of Marriage (Harm of Talaq {Divorce), Page 278.

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 By Imam Alhaji Saeed Abdulai – 1BN Michel Camp, Tema

Features

Attempts to kill natural therapy?

Sikaman Palava

Anyone who has the devil’s bene­diction of getting sick of diabetes and jaundice at the same time would surely blame an experienced witch for his or her palaver. Fact is, the combination is a dreaded one with the form and visage of an obituary.

The bio-chemical analysis of the unholy combination is, however, within arm’s reach. Diabetes doesn’t tolerate sugar and jaundice can’t get cured with­out glucose (sugar). The two diseases are therefore irreconcilable under any medical condition. They are just not of the same womb!

So the terrified patient has to choose between two styles of dying: either curing the diabetes or dying of jaundice or curing the jaundice and falling into a diabetic coma en route to a cold room transit. The next available plane is destined for the cemetery, meaning the world no longer has any business to do with you.

Now, forgetting about pathological combinations and narrowing the focus on diabetes, one can still crumble in fear. The reason is that diabetes as a disease is not a benevolent ailment. We can understand this because it has nev­er been philanthropic in any sense of the word. It demands its pound of flesh, and that is often worth a human life.

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The problem is that, if you have too much sugar in your blood (hyperglyce­mia), you risk falling into coma. If your sugar level is also too low, a terrible coma awaits you. You just can’t un­derstand the malevolence associated with the disease so you have to keep a balance.

TREACHERY

I am writing this piece because of the sundry sinister attempts of treach­ery, overt and covert, being subtly perpetrated to kill Natural Therapy which claims a cure for diabetes. The claim is completely at variance with the assertion of orthodox practitioners who believe that diabetes can only be man­aged, but can never be cured.

Basically, diabetes occurs when the pancreas is not producing enough insulin to cope with blood sugar, or is not producing insulin at all. The result is a debilitating disease with several compli­cations that can lead to death.

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To combat the disease, one has to be put on diaonil or daily insulin injections supposedly to manage the disease, not to cure it because according to medical gurus, it cannot be cured.

Natural therapists have a different and more progresso-radical view. They say diabetes can be cured and they are proving it every day of the week. Happi­ly, medical doctors who develop diabe­tes are now coming for natural therapy, albeit under the cover of darkness. Today, there are many living testimonies of a natural therapy cure for the deadly ailment.

I was really sad about a silly attempt to frustrate the efforts of a well-known Texas-trained naturopathic physician who has toned down the orthodox medi­cal chorus that diabetes is not cur-able. Many of his patients who had been on insulin for years before seeing him are off it.

The medical crusade is a veritable one, and the good news is being propa­gated by those who have seen the light. Dr Kwesi Ofei-Agyemang’s success story is one that needs to be told from the roof-tops. But ask me, how is he being frustrated?

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On October 28, 1996, a diabetic patient of Dr Ofei-Agyemang had her sugar level checked. It was 6.1 mmo1/1. After treatment using naturopathic methods, she became well and was asked to check her sugar level again at a laboratory (name withheld) on 6-11- 96. Surprisingly, the lab recorded 13.3 mmol/l; meaning that her situation had worsened by far.

When she brought the report, Dr Ofei-Agyemang was sceptical about it. The patient was supposed to have recovered, or at least was recovering. The level could, therefore, not be 13.3. He rushed to the laboratory to demand an explanation.

When Dr Ofei-Agymang queried the report, the technician said he was sorry and added that he’d investigate the error.

Meanwhile at another laboratory where he sent the patient for another test to cross-check the earlier result, the patient’s sugar level recorded a low 2.9 mmo1/1, a correct reflection of her improved state of health.

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The doctor was furious for a very good reason. If he had taken the earlier lab report seriously and continued treat­ment to further reduce the patient’s sugar level, the patient would have sunk into coma and possibly died.

“This is not the first time this is happening,” Dr Ofei-Agyemang told me in an interview last week Friday. When I send my patients for tests, some lab technicians deliberately don’t return the correct results just because they know the patient is attending a natural therapy clinic.

“I see it as a subtle attempt to kill naturopathy in this country aside other hidden strategies that are being adopted to sabotage it. They are all out to create a wrong impression in the minds of pa­tients that they are going to the wrong place for treatment when in fact they are at the right place.”

Other attempts include doctors warning their patients never to submit themselves to natural therapy whenever the patients suggest they want to try it, knowing well that orthodox medicine isn’t helping them.

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Look at something else like this one. After Dr Ofei-Agyemang had cured one patient of a disease and placed him on a diet of fruits and vegetables, the patient’s brother (a doctor) advised him to quit the natural diet regimen and to eat plenty of meat and all that has to do with balanced diet.

So the patient quit the natural diet and ate meat to his fill. Before long boils broke out all over his body. Apparently, the body was rejecting the unnatural diet which had become toxic to the body following the spell of natural dieting.

FAILURE

I have been thinking about this diabetic cure controversy for some time now. I was compelled to ask the natural therapist to explain how naturopathy could possibly tread where orthodox medicine has woefully failed as far as a cure to diabetes was concerned.

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He explained that a defective pan­creas only needs to be revived through selective manipulation, diet and urine therapy to make it function again. If de­fects in other organs of the body can be corrected, there should be no medical reason why the pancreas should be an exception, he said.

“What other doctors must know is that once our methods are different, our results will naturally be different,” he said. “What they are supposed to be saying in fact is that ‘according to orthodox medicine, there is no cure for diabetes.’ They should stop saying there is no cure for diabetes because we are curing it. If they doubt it they should come here and see things for them­selves.

“Our methods are natural and include colon irrigation, deep tissue massage which is more effective than physiotherapy, diet, some fast and manipulation, and urine therapy. There is no way any disease can survive a combination of these methods.

Cancerous sores and all kinds of chronic ailments have been cured, dia­betes inclusive.

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“We just rejuvenate the dormant pancreas and it starts producing insulin. Unless the pancreas is cut out through surgery as a result of cancer, we have ways of making it work.”

I spoke to one of his patients, Jamison Ocansey. He was sick of diabe­tes and has been on herbs of all kinds, insulin and dioanil for more than a year. His sugar level fluctuated between 9 to 17 mmo1/c. After treatment, his sugar level is between 5.0 and 5.9 mmol/c.

“People don’t like this method because of the urine that is included in the method of cure,” he said.”I used to feel the same way but as I’m now cured, I’ve an entirely different opinion. Let me also thank your paper Weekly Spectator. It was an article in it that made me come here, so keep spreading the message.

“I used to be very weak and couldn’t walk. Look, now I am as strong as a bull. I eat well and I’m happy.”

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The doctor has cured various types of diseases at his clinic which is 100 metres north of Holy Gardens or Lido, Circle, Accra. What I believe would help us all is that the medical authorities should investigate these cures and come out openly to claim or disclaim them.

Those who are off insulin would also give testimony. That way, natural therapy can become more acceptable and there would be no point in anybody trying to frustrate efforts at entrench­ing it as the better substitute that has no side effects. It should in fact be the ideal complement to orthodox medicine and not an adversary as people want to portray it.

This article was first publish on Satur­day, November 16, 1996

Merari Alomele’s

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The problem is that, if you have too much sugar in your blood (hyperglycemia), you risk falling into coma. If your sugar level is also too low, a terrible coma awaits you. You just can’t un­derstand the malevolence associated with the disease so you have to keep a balance.

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 It is great to be young

 If I had the power, I believe I may be tempted to remain a child forever. We used to hear statements it is great to be young when growing up.

I did not really comprehend one anybody would wish to be like me, a small boy and not wish to be an adult like my Dad. Those were the days that the family did not sit around a dining table and your Dad’s meal was set up on a small table at a particular spot in the hall.

When I observed the amount of meat that were given to my Dad and what was given to me, l definitely wanted to grow up quickly to also become an adult. Therefore to hear some adults occasionally declare that it is great to be young, was some­thing I could not understand.

My reasoning was that, adults were enjoying a lot of benefits and so for any adult to even consider the possi­bility

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When I grew up however, I have come to appreciate that saying that indeed, it is great to be young. Growing up as a child, all l looked up to was the next day to come as I go to bed. When I woke up, l had no worries about what I would eat before going to school.

Where the next meal was going to come from was not my concern. All l had to do was to make sure that I go to school, study hard and pass my ex­ams and ensure that I am within the first three, in my class. There was no worrying about school fees, chang­ing of school uniforms or clothes in general, something I cannot run from now as an adult.

I now have to provide for some people now and I can now fully un­derstand my Dad’s comment that it is great to be young.

Christmas time was a very inter­esting and exciting time as a child because new clothes were provided for me and my siblings. I recall one Christmas period when I was provid­ed with a suit. It was a memorable occasion in my life as it was the first time I wore a suit.

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I felt very proud wearing the suit and with my new shoes to match, I felt great walking with my friends as we moved from place to place. When a new academic term begins I always looked forward to having a new school uniform. How much it was going to cost or how it was going to be provided was not my concern at all. It was taken for granted that I will get a new uniform at all cost.

I always had a good night’s sleep with the exception of those days that I was suffering from malaria and I had quite a number of such malaria attacks.

Recently my last born jokingly said “Daddy, do not think that I am not going to take money from you when I grow up oh. Even when I get mar­ried and have children, do not think you will be free. I will still collect money from you because you are my father”.

I burst into laughter and said “It is great to be young”. At the moment, her needs are provided by me and until she completes school and starts working, I will continue to provide for her needs. There have been mo­ments that I wish I were a child once again.

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I recall an incident involving my little girlie as I affectionately call my last born, when she pushed a piece of chalk into her nostril and we had to take her to the hospital, and wondering how it was going to come out. While her mother and I were worried at the hospital, she did not seem bothered and in that moment I wished I was a child. When the nurses finally got it out, I was so relieved and she was just smiling, obviously not worried as I was. Indeed, it is great to be young.

NB: ‘CHANGE KOTOKA INTERNA­TIONAL AIRPORT TO KOFI BAAKO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT’

By Laud Kissi-Mensah

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