The sovereign is the Head of the Anglican church...

The sovereign is the Head of the Anglican church; and as such is supposed to uphold the theory of illegality of divorce. And the same sovereign, in his/her capacity of Head of State, signs the Acts of Parliament legalizing divorce. Why could not King Edward VIII marry a divorcee, while at the same time hundreds of thousands of his subjects were getting divorce under his own authority? Does it mean that Christians have two sets of rules: one for great people, another for the common folk?

The Roman Catholic church also is fanatically opposed to divorce. But compelled by the hard facts of life they have found a method to dissolve the marriage, without calling it "divorce". If someone has the patience of `Job' (Ayyub) and the money of Qarun, he can obtain, after several years' pleading, a decree from the Vatican, declaring that the marriage was null and void from the very beginning. Ingenious, is not it? The only difficulty is that it can be obtained by wealthy tycoons only.

"In recent years, Pope Paul VI has streamlined the cumbersome process . . . that could drag a case out for as long as twenty years. But despite the Vatican's attempts to limit legal fees, costs at the Rota remained high, sometimes running into thousand of dollars and making annulments available mainly to the prosperous." (Time, November 13, 1972) And if the marriage was not a marriage from the beginning, what is the status of the children of that marriage? Are they also illegitimate?

Italy, under pressure from the Vatican, had resisted the popular demand of legalizing the divorce. Now, there also, an Act has been passed and has become Law. As soon as the act became law thousands of people applied for divorce, most of whom had been separated from their spouses for twenty or even thirty years. So much suffering can be caused to humanity by such doctrines. And not only suffering but also encouragement for frustrated people to indulge in sins.

Can a couple, separated for twenty or thirty years, remain chaste? Surely, they will find partners to satisfy their natural urges - unlawfully, of course. 36. TALAQ: KHUL`: MUBARAT As separation is the result of irreconcilable discord, it may be of the same three types which were mentioned in section 34. Talaq: This is usually translated as 'divorce'. When the husband is fed up with the misbehaviour of the wife and wants to dissolve the marriage, it is called "talaq " in Islamic terminology.