Rights of Divorced Women
Islam secures the rights of a divorced woman and her children in a decent life, and
the ex-husband is responsible for sustaining them for a reasonable period:
“(Hence) let the women (who are undergoing a waiting period) live in the same
manner as you live yourselves, in accordance with your means; and do not
harass them so as to make their lives a misery. And if they to bear a child, spend
on them until they deliver their burden; and if they nurse you off-spring (after
the divorce has become final), give them their (due) recompense; and take
counsel with one another fairly (about the child’s future). And if both of you find
it difficult (that the mother should nurse the child), let another woman nurse it.
(In all these respects), let him who has ample means spend according to his
amplitude, and let him whose means of subsistence are scantly spend by what
God has given him: God does not burden any human being more than He as
given him….”
“And the divorced) mothers may nurse their children for two whole years as a
maximum for the period for nursing: and it is obligatory upon him who has
begotten the child to provide fairly for their sustenance and clothing. No human
being shall be burdened with more than he can bear, neither shall a mother be
made to suffer because of her child, nor because of his child he who has
begotten it. And the same duty rests upon the (father’s) heir.” (65:6-7, 2:233)
“and if both (parents) decide, by mutual consent, and counsel upon a weaning of
the child, they are allowed to do so, and if you decide to entrust you children to
foster-mother, you incur no sin, provided you hand over the agreed upon (wages
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of fostering the child) fairly, and remain conscious of God, and know that God
sees all that you do” (2:233)
Thus, to secure a suitable weaning of the child without a rush as a result as the
mother’s wish to increase her alimony, nor a delay on the father’s side as he may
wish to reduce his obligation to a minimum, the Quran requires from both divorced
people for the benefit of the child a joint decision with mutual ‘counsel’ and
‘consent,’ in order to prevent the abuse of an apparent yielding without having a
real discussion, or a superficial discussion without reaching a consensual
conclusion. According to the interpretation of Abu Muslim quoted by al-Razi, the
required mutual counsel and consent are stated for the separation of the child form
his mother in order to join his father, not for merely the weaning.
This example illustrates the importance of counsel and consent in family life. If
these are required by Islamic law for deciding the proper weaning time for a child,
how essential would such requirements be for all areas of family life?