Divorce has different legal and social implications for the Divorce Essay

Divorce has different legal and social implications for the Divorce Arab and Muslim woman. Discuss, giving examples - Essay Example This paper critically discusses the legal and social implications of divorce for the Arab and Muslim woman with particular focus to examples in various Islamic countries. Firstly, there are a number of legal implications related to divorce in the Islamic societies particularly for women. Legally, although matters of marriage and divorce are largely governed by the Sharia law, the rules of Islamic divorce and consequently, its legal implications vary among various Islamic jurisprudence from one Muslim country to another due to different cultural traditions and practices. In most cases, the Islamic laws have always been largely seen to favor men in relation to their female counterparts in nearly all the Arab and Muslim countries. For instance, while Islam allows Muslim husbands to marry immediately after divorce, women are often required to observe a certain period of time (iddah) before they remarry or have any conjugal relations after divorce. An iddah is a period prescribed of about three months before the divorce becomes final. In most cases, the wife must remain in the home during this period to see whether a reconciliatory method of salvaging their marriage is achievable or if she is pregnant (Haddad et al 134). Another important implication of divorce for a woman in the Arab and Islamic world is the potential loss of custody of her children. For example, the legal system used in Tunisia only allows the woman to have the custody of children up to the ages of 7 for boys and 9 for girls after which the husband the custody reverts to the husband. Although the Arabic and Islamic laws do not make divorce acquiescently permissible, these laws perfectly well through its chapter-based hedges the sanctions of the practice with many defences. In the Suratul-Talaq for example, divorce is highlighted with a lot of positivity; this scripture teaches that when you divorce a woman, divorce them at their prescribed periods, and count accurately