Spirit of Islam October 2017

3 Spirit of Islam Issue 58 October 2017 FROM MAULANA’S DESK 1. The World’s 500 Most Influential Muslims 2012, Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre, Jordan. Maulana Wahiduddin Khan , born in 1925, in Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh, is an Islamic spiritual scholar who is well-versed in both classical Islamic learning and modern disciplines. The mission of his life has been the establishment of worldwide peace. He has received the Padma Bhushan, the Demiurgus Peace International Award and Sayyidina Imam Al Hassan Peace award for promoting peace in Muslim societies. He has been called ’Islam’s spiritual ambassador to the world’ and is recognized as one of its most influential Muslims 1 . His books have been translated into sixteen languages and are part of university curricula in six countries. He is the founder of the Centre for Peace and Spirituality based in New Delhi. INSTANT TRIPLE TALAQ IS UN-ISLAMIC A S an Islamic scholar, I would say that the Supreme Court’s judgement delivered on August 22—striking down instant triple talaq (divorce) as being unconstitutional—is totally right. Triple talaq is not a principle of Islam, but is rather a ruling of certain Muslim jurists, adopted in the later period of Islam. In this matter, Muslim jurists need to correct themselves instead of wrongly justifying triple talaq . In Islam, talaq is seen as an undesirable practice. But in rare cases, a couple may feel that their marriage is not working, and in this situation, divorce is allowed. However, there is a prescribed method laid down by the Quran (2: 229) . That is, a divorce is finalised over a period of time. In the first month, the husband tells his wife that he has pronounced talaq once. Both then wait for a month during which they could reconcile. After the first month, he may either revoke the talaq or pronounce it a second time. Both wait for another month, at the end of which, if he pronounces a third talaq , the divorce becomes final.