Page:Thomas Patrick Hughes - Notes on Muhammadanism - 2ed. (1877).djvu/203

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182

XL.—TALA′Q, OR DIVORCE.

In Islám the wife is the property of the husband, and consequently she can be disposed of by divorce at a moment's notice. The law has, however, placed certain slight restrictions upon the exercise of this right, and has ruled that there are three kinds of divorce:—

(1.) Taláq-i-Ahsan, or "the most laudable form of divorce," is when the husband divorces his wife when she is in a state of purity, by one sentence, "thou art divorced," or words to that effect. This is esteemed the best form, because the sentence having been only pronounced once, the husband can again change his mind, with the consent of his divorced wife, at any subsequent period, until she marries another.

(2.) Taláq-i-Hasan, or "a laudable form of divorce," is when the husband divorces his wife