Screening Ṣiddīq Ḥasan Khān’s Library 205
rect that, according to Koran and Sunna, divorce is permitted, but
not pleasing to Allah. Islamic law distinguishes between divorce in
accordance to the Sunna (ṭalāq-i sunnat) and the ṭalāq-i bidʿat, mean-
ing “divorce that is an unlawful innovation to Islam”. There are two
types of permissible ṭalāq-i sunnat: the “best divorce” (ṭalāq-i aḥsan)
means that the husband pronounces the formula “you are free” (anti
ṭāliq) once. After the period of waiting (ʿidda), which lasts for three
menstrual cycles (qurūʾ), the husband decides whether to revoke the
divorce, in which case the marriage is still valid.
The second type of ṭalāq-i sunnat is the “the approved divorce”
(ṭalāq-i ḥasan). The husband pronounces the formula of ṭalāq once
during a period of purity (ṭuhr) of his wife. The period of waiting
(ʿidda) starts, and no sexual intercourse is allowed. Most scholars agree
that the period in this case lasts only one month. If the husband does
not want to take back his decision, and the woman is in the state of
purity, the process starts again. Until the end of the third ʿidda is over,
the divorce is revocable. After the third pronouncement of ṭalāq the
divorce is valid and the woman has to leave the husband’s home. If the
husband seeks reconciliation, a new marriage ceremony (nikāḥ) has to
be performed, including the payment of a dowry (mahr).
The Ahl-i Ḥadīth^139 support both forms of the ṭalāq-i sunnat, but
oppose the irregular ṭalāq-i bid ʿat.^140 For this latter form of ṭalāq,
the husband pronounces “ṭalāq, ṭalāq, ṭalāq”, which counts as three
announcements. This means that the marriage has become invalid and
the woman immediately has to leave the husband’s home. If the hus-
band wants his wife back, remarriage is not easy. First the woman has
to marry another man who then repudiates her (so called muḥallil).
After that she can marry her first husband for the second time. This
form of ṭalāq is practiced by the Ḥanafīs, who argue that the ṭalāq
formula spoken once counts as three – even if the husband is joking or
drunk. In India, the Ahl-i Ḥadīth are the only community beside the
139 On the Bhopalese point of view, formulated by Shāh Jahān Bēgum, see Preck-
el, Interpretations of Widow Remarriage, pp. 41–51.
140 Ṣiddīq Ḥasan Khān, Muḥammad: Ḥusn al-uswa bi-mā thabata min rasūlihi
fī al-niswa (Excellence of the Good Example Concerning What is Confirmed
from God’s Messenger about Women), Constantinople 1301/1884, pp. 18–19;
Ḥusayn b. Muḥsin commented extensively on this subject in his collections
of fatwas, such as Nūr al-ʿayn; see the table of contents of vol. 2, which is an
appendix to the table of contents of vol. 1. Vol. 2 was not available to me. A
modern book on this subject: Pīrzāda, Shams: Ikaṯṯhī tīn ṭalāqīnˉ (Collections
on the Triple ṭalāq), Bombay 1997.
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