Source: The Hindu
Author: A Faizur Rahman
Darul Uloom Deoband is once again in the news for the wrong reasons, having validated a recent instance of triple talaq uttered in a drunken state by a Muslim husband (“Deoband: talaq given in a state of drunkenness valid,” The Hindu, March 30, 2012).
This fatwa is bad in law and theology as it is not based on the Koran and the authentic pronouncements of the Prophet. It has been deduced from medieval treatises such as the Hidaya and Radd al Muhtar which state that if liquor consumed has reached the prohibited level of intoxication (a purely subjective issue) then talaq uttered in such a state shall be held valid. It may be pointed out here that Hazrat Usman, the third Caliph of Islam, and Ibn Abbas, the Prophet’s paternal cousin, were of the view that talaq under the influence of liquor was not valid because of the incapacity of the drunken person to exercise reason (Sahih Bukhari).
Categories: Asia, India, Law, Sharia Law
Muslims must seek guidance from the primary sources of Shariah (Quran, Hadith and Sunnah) when making important theological decisions such as divorce. Increasing reliance on precedents, traditions and taqleed at the expense of the primary sources have turned Islam into a system of rules which reflects less of God’s will and more of Mullah’s will.
On a side note, why this Muslim individual was drunk in the first place? He is very concerned about Islamic ruling on divorce but found it okay to drink which is prohibited by Islam.
One of the Ahdith of the Holy Prophet states that there is no divorce and no manumission in the event of Ighlaaq” which means compulsion or anger.
Since anger makes a person unaware of what he does or says so he become like someone who is unconscious, insane or drunk. If a person does not realize what he is doing and cannot control his words or actions then divorce cannot be valid.