Controversial practice of ‘triple talaq’, which allows men to dissolve marriages instantly, declared unconstitutional

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

An Islamic practice permitting men to instantly divorce their wives has been declared unconstitutional by India’s supreme court after decades of campaigning by women’s groups and victims.

The “triple talaq” has allowed Muslim men to dissolve marriages by pronouncing the word “divorce” three times.

The supreme court in Delhi took up the issue last year in response to a petition from seven victims and women’s groups. A majority of the bench declared on Wednesday that triple talaq was “not integral to religious practice and violates constitutional morality”.

Campaigners hailed the supreme court’s 3-2 decision as a huge victory for India’s 90 million Muslim women.

“It’s a very happy day for us. It’s a historic day,” said Zakia Soman, the co-founder of the Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan (BMMA), an activist group that was party to the legal battle.

“We, the Muslim women, are entitled to justice from the courts as well as the legislature.”

The Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, also welcomed the verdict:

Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) Judgment of the Hon'ble SC on Triple Talaq is historic. It grants equality to Muslim women and is a powerful measure for women empowerment.

A national survey conducted in 2015 by the BMMA found roughly 1 in 11 Muslim women were survivors of triple talaq, the vast majority receiving no alimony or compensation.



Clerics had also started recognising instant divorces where the word “talaq” had been texted or emailed.

Arshiya Ismail did not even hear her husband utter the words. She told the Guardian last year: “One day, suddenly, he told me he had given me talaq. He said: ‘I gave it to you four days earlier.’”

She has spent the past six years trying to have the Islamic divorce overturned so that she can leave her husband under India’s more progressive secular laws, which entitle her to one-third of his salary to support herself and their child.

“It’s wonderful news, I’m so emotional about it,” Ismail said on Tuesday. “Basically my marriage still stands as per the supreme court. I was hoping for it but I still had my doubts.”

'Talaq' and the battle to ban the three words that grant India's Muslim men instant divorce Read more

Triple talaq has been criticised even among hardline Muslim schools and was already banned in Pakistan, Bangladesh and across much of the Islamic world.

It persisted in India because the country’s Muslim, Hindu and Christian communities are permitted to follow religious law in personal matters such as marriage, divorce, inheritance and adoption.

Progressive Muslim women’s groups say Islamic religious authorities – uniformly male – have been resistant to give up men’s power to instantly leave their wives.

India’s Muslim community is also generally poorer and less educated than others, which activists say has made it harder for women to mount legal and social campaigns against the practice.

Islamic leaders have also warned that meddling with Muslim personal laws may see them one day dismantled altogether, in favour of a uniform civil code they fear would be Hindu-inflected and ride roughshod over their beliefs.

Modi’s Hindu nationalist government, whose party has long pushed for a uniform civil code, had backed the petitioners in the case.

Each of the five supreme court judges belonged to one of India’s main faiths – Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, Sikhism and Zoroastrianism. The majority opinion said it was “manifestly arbitrary” to allow a husband to “break down [a] marriage whimsically and capriciously”.

The All India Muslim Personal Law Board, a peak body of Islamic organisations, had said it considered triple talaq but argued against the supreme court interfering in religious law.

Nonetheless, Kamal Faruqui, a member of the board, said he regarded the decision as a victory.

“It upholds the rights of Muslims and other minorities to follow their own personal laws,” he said.

Ending instant divorce is a victory. But Indian women have a fight ahead | Hasina Khan Read more

“There were some voices in the country that wanted to bring in a uniform civil code for all religious faiths, but the supreme court judges said a few weeks ago that they would look only at triple talaq, not at other customs. So Muslim personal law has been protected by the ruling.”

Noor Jehan, another member of the BMMA, said she had celebrated the verdict in her office with sweets and soft drinks, but would begin lobbying for a more progressive Islamic divorce law.

“It is a historic victory for Muslim women, something we have been working for for 10 years,” she said. “It is going to give immense relief to women but we need to pass a law soon. Our organisation has already prepared a draft law which we will send to the government.”

Additional reporting by Amrit Dhillon</s>Triple Talaq started trending after the Supreme Court banned the practice in India on Tuesday. The historic judgement was passed after five Muslim women, who got divorced via triple Talaq or instant divorce, filed cases in the court.

As soon as the verdict came out, people have been applauding the apex court for banning the age-old practice. It is believed to be a big step in bringing about gender equality in India.

The Supreme Court, led by five judges, has banned triple Talaq by a ratio of 3:2. The highest court in the country has declared the practice unconstitutional. The verdict has been welcomed by a majority of the population.

While so much is being talked about triple talaq or instant divorce, let's have a look at what exactly this practice is all about.
• Triple talaq is an age-old practice under Islam whereby a Muslim man can divorce his wife instantly by just saying the word "talaq" three times.
• Triple Talaq has existed in India several decades.
• While earlier triple Talaq was delivered verbally or in written form, it had been given by electronic means like telephone, SMS, email or even on social media, including Whatsapp, in recent times.
• Triple Talaq or instant divorce is not followed by all Muslims across the world.
• Triple Talaq is not mentioned in the Quran and many Islamic legal schools disapprove of this practice. Even Islamic countries like Pakistan and Bangladesh have banned this practice.
• One of the most criticised aspects about triple talaq, originally called talaq al-bid'ah, is that if the husband later wants to remarry his wife, he cannot do it unless the lady marries another man, consummating the second marriage, and then gets divorced to remarry her first husband. This process is called nikah halala.</s>India’s top court on Tuesday banned a controversial Islamic practice that allows men to divorce their wives instantly, saying it was unconstitutional.

Victims of the practice known as “triple talaq”, whereby Muslim men can divorce their wives by reciting the word talaq (divorce) three times, had approached the Supreme Court to ask for a ban.

Triple talaq “is not integral to religious practice and violates constitutional morality,” a panel of Supreme Court judges said.

The five judges were from India’s major faiths — Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, Sikhism and Zoroastrianism.

In their ruling, they said it was “manifestly arbitrary” to allow a man to “breakdown (a) marriage whimsically and capriciously”.

“What is sinful under religion cannot be valid under law,” they said.

The practice had been challenged in lower courts but it was the first time India’s Supreme Court had considered whether triple talaq was legal.

India allows religious institutions to govern matters of marriage, divorce and property inheritance in the multi-faith nation, enshrining triple talaq as a legal avenue for its 180 million Muslims to end unions.

But the Hindu nationalist government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi had backed the petitioners in this landmark case, declaring triple talaq unconstitutional and discriminatory against women.

Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party has long pushed for a uniform civil code, governing Indians of all religions, to be enforced.

But the issue remains highly sensitive in India, where religious tensions often lead to violence.

The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB), a grouping of Islamic organisations, had opposed any efforts to ban triple talaq.

Some Islamic scholars say there is no mention of triple talaq in the Koran, which instead details a different process for divorce based on mediation.</s>India’s top court has banned a controversial Islamic practice that allows men to divorce their wives instantly, saying it was unconstitutional.

Victims of the practice known as “triple talaq”, whereby Muslim men can divorce their wives by reciting the word talaq (divorce) three times, had approached the supreme court to ask for a ban.

Triple talaq “is not integral to religious practice and violates constitutional morality”, a panel of judges said.

“It’s a very happy day for us. It’s a historic day,” said Zakia Soman, the co-founder of the Indian Muslim Women’s Movement, which was part of the legal battle to end the practice.

“We, the Muslim women, are entitled to justice from the courts as well as the legislature,” she added.

The five supreme court judges were from India’s major faiths – Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, Sikhism and Zoroastrianism. In their ruling, they said it was “manifestly arbitrary” to allow a man to “break down [a] marriage whimsically and capriciously”.

“What is sinful under religion cannot be valid under law,” they said.

The practice had been challenged in lower courts but it was the first time India’s supreme court had considered whether triple talaq was legal.

India allows religious institutions to govern matters of marriage, divorce and property inheritance in the multi-faith nation, enshrining triple talaq as a legal avenue for its 180 million Muslims to end unions.

More than 20 Muslim countries, including neighbouring Pakistan and Bangladesh, have banned the practice while in India, the practice has continued. While most Hindu personal law has been overhauled and codified over the years, Muslim laws have been left to religious authorities and left largely untouched.

The Hindu nationalist government of the prime minister, Narendra Modi, had backed the petitioners in this landmark case, declaring triple talaq unconstitutional and discriminatory against women. Modi’s Bharatiya Janata party has long pushed for a uniform civil code, governing Indians of all religions, to be enforced.

The issue remains highly sensitive in India, where religious tensions often lead to violence.

The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB), a grouping of Islamic organisations, had told the court that while they considered the practice of triple talaq wrong, they opposed any court intervention and asked that the matter be left to the community to tackle.

Progressive Muslim activists had criticised the board’s position. “This is the demand of ordinary Muslim women for over 70 years and it’s time for this country to hear their voices,” activist Feroze Mithiborwala told New Delhi television station.

Some Islamic scholars say there is no mention of triple talaq in the Qur’an, which instead details a different process for divorce based on mediation.</s>The Supreme Court will on Tuesday pronounce judgment on the controversial Muslim divorce practice of triple talaq.

Uttarakhand resident Shayra Bano approached the top court in 2015 after her husband of 15 years sent her a letter with word talaq written thrice, divorcing her.

The custom of men uttering the word talaq thrice in a go to end the marriage discriminated against women, she told the court, demanding scrapping of the divorce ritual practised by Sunni Muslims.

Subsequently, several women and organisations petitioned the court to declare the practice unconstitutional, saying men were pronouncing talaq even through emails and WhatsApp messages.

The hearing in the case started in May this year when the country’s top judges decided to forgo their summer break for a day-to-day hearing that lasted six days.

The Muslim personal law board has opposed “judicial interference” in matters of Muslim faith. The government says triple talaq should go as it violates the constitution and strips women of dignity.

Here are some of their arguments:

1 Personal laws cannot be challenged for violating fundamental rights nor can they be re-written in the name of social reform.

2 The Constitution only envisages a uniform civil code and that too as a directive principle of state policy which is not enforceable.

3 Triple talaq is protected by the right to religious freedom and courts cannot supplant their interpretations over the text of scriptures.

4 Muslim Personal Law provides for the practices to be followed on the issues of marriage, divorce and maintenance and these are based on scriptures

5 Sharia grants men the right to divorce because they have greater power of decision making and were emotionally more stable.

6 In case of a discord, divorce is a better option available to a Muslim man than him resorting to “criminal ways of getting rid of her (wife) by murdering her”.

7 Triple talaq is being practised for 1,400 years and is a matter of faith just like Ram Lalla’s birthplace is for Hindus.

1 Gender equality is part of the basic structure of the Constitution and is non-negotiable.

2 Any practice by which women are left socially, financially or emotionally vulnerable or subject to the whims men is incompatible with the Constitution.

3 Even theocratic states have undergone reforms, reinforcing that the practice cannot be considered an integral part of Islam.

4 No undesirable practice can be elevated to the status of an essential religious practice.

5 Almost 90 million Muslim women will be affected by this judgment.

6 The government will bring in a divorce law for Muslims to fill a legal gap if triple talaq, which is now the only way men from the community can end a marriage, is struck down.</s>India’s Supreme Court proscribed the controversial Islamic divorce practice of “triple talaq” on Tuesday, August 22, in a landmark judgement for gender equality and Muslim women’s rights in the country.

In a 3-2 majority verdict, India’s highest court called the practice "un-Islamic" and “unconstitutional.” The decision came in response to petitions filed over the last two years by five Muslim women who had been divorced in this manner, as well as by human rights groups.

“Talaq” means divorce in Arabic and Urdu, and the practice of triple talaq is interpreted as an instant divorce pronounceable by a Muslim man against his wife, by simply saying the word “talaq” three times.

Why three times? Under some interpretations of Islamic law, a man can divorce his wife and then get back together with her--but only twice. After the third divorce, the marriage cannot be resumed without an intervening marriage to someone else--a related, and very contentious custom known as nikkah halala.

Scholars are divided on whether it qualifies as an official divorce to just say the word “talaq” three times, or whether it needs to be said on three separate occasions, and many argue that it is not in fact recommended in the Quran.

However, in India there have been hundreds of cases where Muslim men have divorced their wives by invoking the “triple talaq” even via letter or phone call, and more recently via text message, WhatsApp and Skype. Several of these cases made their way to the courts as more and more women stood up against the custom.

How did triple talaq affect women in India?

While many Islamic countries including Pakistan and Bangladesh have long banned the practice, "triple talaq" was still prevalent in India, where there is no absolute set of laws on marriage and divorce applicable to all citizens regardless of religion. Instead, India has a provision for the “personal laws” of all religious communities, and “triple talaq” was regarded as part of Muslim Personal Law.

Campaigners including the Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan (BMMA), an advocacy group for Muslim women, say that over the years, thousands of women, especially those from poor families, have been arbitrarily rendered homeless and destitute by their husbands in this manner overnight, with no money and nowhere to go.

Thus far, Muslim women divorced via "triple talaq" have had little or no recourse or protection, and so many have lived in the constant fear that their marriage, children, and home could be taken away from them at a whim.</s>India’s top court has ruled the practice of instant divorce in Islam unconstitutional, marking a major victory for women’s rights activists.

In a 3-2 majority verdict, the court called the practice “un-Islamic”.

India is one of a handful of countries where a Muslim man can divorce his wife in minutes by saying the word talaq (divorce) three times.

The landmark court decision came in response to petitions challenging the so-called “triple talaq” custom.

The cases were filed by five Muslim women who had been divorced in this way and two rights groups.

Women’s rights campaigners have hailed the court’s decision as a historic win.

What is instant divorce?

There have been cases in which Muslim men in India have divorced their wives by issuing the so-called triple talaq by letter, telephone and, increasingly, by text message, WhatsApp and Skype. A number of these cases made their way to the courts as women contested the custom.

Triple talaq divorce has no mention in Sharia Islamic law or the Koran, even though the practice has existed for decades.

Islamic scholars say the Koran clearly spells out how to issue a divorce – it has to be spread over three months, allowing a couple time for reflection and reconciliation.

Most Islamic countries, including Pakistan and Bangladesh, have banned triple talaq, but the custom has continued in India, which does not have a uniform set of laws on marriage and divorce that apply to every citizen.

Three of the five Supreme Court judges called the controversial practice “un-Islamic, arbitrary and unconstitutional”. One of the judges,

Justice Kurien Joseph, said the practice was not an essential part of Islam and enjoyed no protection.

The judges also said it was “manifestly arbitrary” to allow a man to “break down (a) marriage whimsically and capriciously”.

Chief Justice JS Khehar, in a differing opinion, said that personal law could not be touched by a constitutional court of law. The opposing judgements also recommended that parliament legislate on the issue. However this is not binding and is up to parliament to take up.

The Indian government, led by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has supported ending the practice. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has brought up the issue several times including in his Independence Day address on 15 August.

Muslim women in IndiaImage copyrightAFP

Activists are hailing the decision as a major step forward for the rights of Muslim women</s>For decades, Muslim women in India have lived with the possibility of their husbands ending their marriages instantaneously by muttering one word, talaq, three times.

But now, India’s highest court has declared that the divorce practice known as 'triple talaq'—the Arabic word for divorce—is unconstitutional and should be outlawed.

In a 3-2 majority decision, the Supreme Court of India ruled to ban the practice, calling it “un-Islamic, arbitrary and unconstitutional,” the BBC reported.

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The court suspended the practice for six months to give time for new legislation to be devised. India does not currently have a unified marriage and divorce legal code.

The opposing judges said that the court should not interfere with personal matters such as marriage and divorce.

Triple talaq divorce is not mentioned in the Quran or Sharia law and is widely disapproved of by Islamic legal scholars. Many Islamic countries, including Pakistan and Bangladesh, have banned it, although it remains technically legal in Sunni Islamic jurisprudence.

In Islamic law, talaq is based upon the principle that a husband has the right to repudiate or dismiss his wife with good grounds. While the process is not encouraged in Islam, there are ways of divorce that are considered to be better or worse.

The ideal form of dissolving a marriage is known as talaq al-sunnah: the sunnah being the traditions of the Prophet Muhammad, which form a key part of Islamic law.

In talaq al-sunnah, a husband verbally can repudiate his wife on three separate occasions, which are interspersed by three menstrual cycles of his wife. The process therefore takes around three months, and during this period, the pronouncement of divorce is revocable. The waiting period is meant to give couples the opportunity to reconcile or the husband to retract rash statements.

The husband can also make a single pronouncement of divorce that is followed by a three-month waiting period. The couple must abstain from sex during the waiting period, or the marriage is automatically resumed.

In contrast, talaq al-bid’ah—bid’ah means “innovation” in Arabic—is an instantaneous and irrevocable termination of the marriage contract. This can take the form of the so-called triple talaq, where a husband says three times that he wishes to divorce his wife and the marriage is considered terminated. This repudiation is increasingly carried out via text message or social media, including WhatsApp.

According to some Islamic scholars, triple talaq results in what is classed as a major divorce in Islam. If the husband has second thoughts, he cannot remarry his former wife until she goes through a process known as a nikah halala: this involves her remarrying another man, consummating the second marriage, getting divorced, observing another waiting period, and then remarrying her original husband.

Women’s rights groups in India have slammed the practice, saying it deprives wives of their rights and can leave them as social outcasts. The Supreme Court cases were filed by five Muslim women who had suffered a triple talaq divorce and two rights groups.

“Muslim women in India have suffered for the last 70 years. It’s a historic day for us, but it doesn’t end here. I cannot tell you how much Indian women have supported us, despite their religions,” said Zakia Soman, an activist from Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan, one of the groups involved in the case, according to the BBC.

But while the practice was highly controversial, it does not appear to have been widely used. A 2017 survey of more than 20,000 people in India—which included just 3,811 women—found that the triple talaq form of divorce was used in only 0.3 percent of cases, the Times of India reported.

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke out against the triple talaq on several occasions and expressed his support for the “historic” Supreme Court ruling on Tuesday.

Some Indians on social media have celebrated the verdict, while others said they were concerned that two of the judges sought to defend the practice.

Islam is the second-biggest religion in India, with Muslims making up around 14 percent of the 1.3 billion population.</s>NEW DELHI — India’s Supreme Court on Tuesday struck down the Muslim practice that allows men to instantly divorce their wives as unconstitutional.

The bench, comprising five senior judges of different faiths, deliberated for three months before issuing its order in response to petitions from seven Muslim women who had been divorced through the practice known as triple talaq.

Indian law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said on NDTV that since the court deemed the practice unconstitutional there is no need for any further legislative action by the government.

The decision was widely lauded by women’s rights activists as a step toward granting Muslim women greater equality and justice.

“It’s a very happy day for us. It’s a historic day,” said Zakia Soman, the co-founder of the Indian Muslim Women’s Movement, which was part of the legal battle to end triple talaq.

“We, the Muslim women, are entitled to justice from the courts as well as the legislature,” she said.

More than 20 Muslim countries, including neighbouring Pakistan and Bangladesh, have banned the practice. But in India, triple talaq has continued with the protection of laws that allow Muslim, Christian and Hindu communities to follow religious law in matters like marriage, divorce, inheritance and adoption. While most Hindu personal laws have been overhauled and codified over the years, Muslim laws have been left to religious authorities and left largely untouched.

Most of the 170 million Muslims in India are Sunnis governed by Muslim Personal Law for family matters and disputes. Those laws include allowing men to divorce their wives by simply uttering the Arabic word “talaq,” or divorce, three times — and not necessarily consecutively, but at any time, and by any medium, including telephone, text message or social media post.

India’s Muslim Law Board had told the court that while they considered the practice wrong, they opposed any court intervention and asked that the matter be left to the community to tackle. But several progressive Muslim activists decried the law board’s position.

“This is the demand of ordinary Muslim women for over 70 years and it’s time for this country to hear their voices,” activist Feroze Mithiborwala told NDTV.

The government supports an end to the practice. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said in many public addresses that the practice oppresses Muslim women and needs to be ended.

On Tuesday, Modi took to Twitter to praise the judgment as “historic.”

“It grants equality to Muslim women and is a powerful measure for women empowerment,” he said.</s>India’s top court has banned a controversial Islamic practice that allows men to divorce their wives instantly, ending a long tradition that many Muslim women had fiercely opposed.

The Supreme Court ruled that the practice of “triple talaq”, where Muslim men can divorce their wives by reciting the word talaq (divorce) three times, was both unconstitutional and un-Islamic.

Victims including Shayara Bano, whose husband used triple talaq to divorce her by letter in 2015, had approached India’s highest court to ask for a ruling.

A panel of five judges from India’s major faiths – Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, Sikhism and Zoroastrianism – said triple talaq was “not integral to religious practice and violates constitutional morality”.
The "triple talaq", an Islamic practice allowing men to divorce instantly, is declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of India.