Divorcing a Pregnant Woman More Than Once as a Jurisprudential Assessment

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

• Hossein Zeydari ¹
• Mohammadreza Elmi Sola ²
• Hossein Naseri Moghaddam ³

¹ PhD Graduate, Department of Fiqh and Foundation of Islamic Law, Faculty of Theology and Islamic Studies, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran

² Associate Professor, Department of Fiqh and Foundation of Islamic Law, Faculty of Theology and Islamic Studies, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran

³ Professor, Department of Fiqh and Foundation of Islamic Law, Faculty of Theology and Islamic Studies, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran

10.22067/jfiqh.2023.80839.1529

Abstract

The majority of jurists hold consensus that divorcing a pregnant woman is permissible in principle, but there is much disagreement regarding its manner and frequency. Four major and several secondary opinions have been proposed within Imāmī jurisprudence regarding this issue. The main source of disagreement lies in the diversity of narrations, which vary not only in their degrees of authenticity and reliability, but also in their content. The present research, conducted through the descriptive-analytical method, supports the preferred detailed view (tafsīl) in this matter, so that if the husband returns to his wife with the intention of divorcing her again, he does not have the right to a second or third divorce before the ending of the period of waiting for a pregnant (ʿiddah). However, if he returns with the intention of reconciling but later changes his mind, he may file for another divorce. This opinion is based on conventional combination (jamʿ ʿurfī) derived from the Quran.

Keywords

• divorcing a pregnant lady
• divorce combined with revocation and irrevocability (ṭalāq-i ʿiddī)
• Correct (sunnī) divorce
• waiting period of pregnancy (ʿiddat-i ḥaml)

Main Subjects

• Jurisprudence and family law

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