DefinePK

Abstract

In Islamic Law husband can divorce his wife without mentioning any reason which is considered his unilateral right. The wife can also dissolve her marriage through khul‘ nevertheless there is a contradiction in granting a woman right to dissolve her marriage as a unilateral right. This paper is divided into two parts; the first part highlights the contrary arguments of classical and contemporary Muslim Jurists in considering khul‘ as the unilateral right of a woman or it is dependent upon the consent of her husband, while in the second part I will examine how does this right is granted to a woman in light of the case law. It also explores how do the superior courts provide varied judgments in which the approval of the husband is considered mandatory for khul‘ while in others the consent is assumed irrelevant. The current paper investigates these contrary judgments in light of Islamic Law along with the opinions of the classical and contemporary jurists on the consent of a husband for khul‘. It is also noteworthy to highlight that there are also some basis provided by Pakistani law for dissolution of marriage by the woman with certain justified causes as mentioned in section 2 of the Dissolution of Muslim Marriage Act 1939. Drawing over the scholarly arguments from Islamic and Pakistani Law this study claims that the approval of the husband is mandatory neither in Islamic Law nor in the legal system of Pakistan.