Does a Legal Divorce Equate to an Islamic Divorce, and Can One Remarry After That? – Mawlana Ilyas Patel

Answered by Mawlana Ilyas Patel

Question

Does a legal divorce equate to an Islamic divorce? My wife and I legally divorced two years ago with court-ratified papers. Is there any additional action required from an Islamic standpoint?

Regarding remarriage, does this legal divorce count as the first divorce Islamically, given that remarriage is not permitted after a third Islamic divorce?

Answer

In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate

I pray you are in good faith and health.

If you, as a husband, filed for the divorce or gave your full consent and signed on the legal divorce papers, then you have divorced your wife from an Islamic perspective as well as the court. You can remarry anytime with a renewed marriage contract (nikah) and dowry (mahr). 

According to Shari’a, speech and verbal utterance are not necessary conditions for the validity of divorce; instead, divorce also comes into effect through the written word.

Moreover, if a husband instructs a third person – even if a non-Muslim – to write the decree of divorce on his behalf and he then signs the written document, or he appoints a third person to issue divorce on his behalf (tawkil), divorce will come into effect.

Ibn Abidin (Allah have mercy on him) states, “If the husband requested another person to write the declaration of divorce for him, and he (the writer), after writing it, read it out to the husband who took the divorce paper, signed and stamped it, and sent it to his wife, divorce will be effected if the husband admits that it is his writing.” [Ibn ʿAbidin, Radd al-Muhtar]

Due to the sensitivity of this situation, I would advise you to consult local scholars who are reliable, pious, and wise and understand family and community dynamics.

I would like you to go through the valuable answers and links below. You will receive guidance and direction in sha Allah.

Related

• Remarrying One’s Former Husband – SeekersGuidance
• Can My Wife Divorce Me Without My Agreement? – SeekersGuidance

Why not begin your search for knowledge by signing up for a course on SeekersAcademy (seekersguidance.org), like from the Islamic Studies Curriculum (seekersguidance.org), building your way up doing each course?

I pray this helps answer your question.

[Mawlana] Ilyas Patel
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Mawlana Ilyas Patel is a traditionally-trained scholar who has studied within UK, India, Pakistan, Syria, Jordan and Turkey.

He started his early education in UK. He went onto complete hifz of Qur’an in India, then enrolled into an Islamic seminary in UK where he studied the secular and Alimiyyah sciences. He then travelled to Karachi, Pakistan.

He has been an Imam in Rep of Ireland for a number of years. He has taught hifz of the Qur’an, Tajwid, Fiqh and many other Islamic sciences to both children and adults onsite and online extensively in UK and Ireland. He was teaching at a local Islamic seminary for 12 years in the UK where he was a librarian and a teacher of Islamic sciences.

He currently resides in UK with his wife. His personal interest is love of books and gardening.