The husband can reply...

The husband can reply, in Arabic and in the presence of two witnesses of unblemished character, “My wife, -stating her name- is divorced in return for the compensation she offered”, or “X is divorced in return for - x - amount”. * Do you have to mention the name of the wife here? - If she was identifiable, i.e. being the only wife for instance, you may choose not to mention her name. * Is it all right if the compensation offered to the husband is anything other than the dowry?

●Yes, it is in order. * Can man and wife appoint proxies to carry out the divorce procedure? - Yes, they can. * In some cases, the absent husband’s whereabouts are not known and it cannot be ascertained as to whether he is alive, can the wife divorce him? - The wife has the right of recourse to the Marji’. In such a case he would normally request that every effort should be made to trace the absent husband. This could take the best part of four years.

The investigation period may yield nothing of substance regarding the husband’s whereabouts or fate. The other course of action, that must be exhausted, is if the husband has any property the marriage can still be salvaged by providing maintenance for the wife. If he has an agent, he should provide for the wife. If neither is forthcoming, the Marji’ could instruct the agent to grant her a divorce.

In the event of the agent refusing to comply, or the husband having no agent, the Marji’ can pronounce her divorced. * If the husband was imprisoned for life, and thus not in a position to maintain his wife, but was insistent on not divorcing her, what will happen? - She could approach the Marji’. He would contact the husband to instruct him to grant his wife a divorce. Should he choose not comply, and it was not feasible to force him to do so, the Marji’ could pronounce her divorced. Previous…

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