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divorce. the man takes compensation from the divorcee if she could not
live with her husband but offers to pay him money, and he had the
right either to accept or not, as Smith mentioned: 'In old times,
Khul was a friendly arrangement between the husband and his wife's
father by which the latter repaid the dowry and got
back his
daughter. ' 1 Under this kind of divorce, the marriage was absolutely
cancelled because the husband had his dowry back and it was believed
as Smith suggests, that 'the husband had purchased the exclusive right
to use the woman as a wife, and the right was of the nature of
property, and did not revert to the woman or her kin simply because
the owner declined the use of it*
2
On the other hand, if the man refused to live any longer with his
wife, and he did not get his dowry back, 'its is plain that they
would not be absolutely free under such a theory of marriage. '
Moreover, some Arabian men refused to divorce their wives and used
a way called Al.! Adal in which a man totally demeans his wife's life
either by ignoring her without divorce for a long term or by not
allowing her to remarry anyone else after his divorce unless she pays
him money to permit her to have a divorce or to remarry another man,
and even if he dies his son or relatives had also the right to control
her life, either by keeping her to themselves, or by preventing her
from marrying another man. The Qurlan sondemns these practices, as
it says:
"When ye divorce women. and they fulfil the term
of their (iddat) do not prevent them from marrying
their (former) husbands$ if they mutually agree
on equitable terms. 3
1. See Smith, op. cit., P. 113
2. Ibid
3. Q. 2,232
42