Since Islam’s aim is the firm establishment of marriages...

Since Islam’s aim is the firm establishment of marriages, in the interests of this objective certain liberties are denied. The right of divorce is given to the man only, except in very exceptional cases. This is to safeguard the best interests of women and save them from falling victim to passions. Manifestly, if two people both have the right to institute divorce proceedings, the basis of confidence is made very shaky on both sides.

What better safeguard can there be, therefore, than to give the right of divorce proceedings primarily to the one who has by nature more subjection to the powers of reason, and patience in the face of lack of tenderness; and who stands to lose the sum he has given as a marriage portion, as well as having to undertake the financial burdens of the children’s upbringing? The differences in the constitution of a man and woman are manifest.

The head takes first place in the man’s decisions and the heart in the woman’s. Reason and emotion are the gifts given to each respectively in their creation. As Dr. Alexis Carrel puts it: “The differences between men and women are, obviously, the physical ones and then, less obviously, the internal ones like the dispositions of the nerves, the different mental and emotional talents, both of which are of supreme importance for the future of civilization.

Partisans of Women’s Liberation aim at a false conception of equality. as if that desirable condition meant precise similarity and identity in upbringing, employment, responsibilities and duties. (1) It is for these reasons that Islam’s Fiqh lays down: “Divorce is in the hand of the man.” And it is in consideration of the woman’s delicacy of spirit that the power of ending a shared life is not granted to her.

Islam, in addition to the manifold measures it has taken to make it easier for people to enter the married state and start families, also makes it more difficult to break up the home. Everything possible is done to ensure a happy sound home-life, for the sake of the family’s members and of the society to which they belong. It is therefore that it is written in Surah Nisa’a “O men, live with your wives in kindness and equity.

If you dislike anything in them, that may be the very point which God will use to bring about much blessing.