An account of the manners and customs of the modern EgyptiansLane, Edward William
History
An account of the manners and customs of the modern Egyptians
Lane, Edward William
Egypt -- Social life and customs
A man may divorce his wife twice, and each time take her back without
any ceremony, excepting in a case to be mentioned below; but if he
divorce her the third time, or put her away by a triple divorce conveyed
in one sentence, he cannot receive her again until she has been married
and divorced by another husband, who must have consummated his marriage
with her.[182] When a man divorces his wife (which he does by merely
saying, “Thou art divorced,” or “I divorce thee”), he pays her a portion
of her dowry (generally one-third), which he had kept back from the
first, to be paid on this occasion, or at his death; and she takes away
with her the furniture, etc., which she brought at her marriage. He may
thus put her away from mere dislike,[183] and without assigning any
reason; but a woman cannot separate herself from her husband against his
will, unless it be for some considerable fault on his part, as cruel
treatment, or neglect; and even then, application to the Kádee’s court
is generally necessary to compel the man to divorce her; and she
forfeits the above-mentioned remnant of the dowry.
The first and second divorce, if made without any mutual agreement for a
compensation from the woman, or a pecuniary sacrifice on her part, is
termed “talák reg’ee” (a divorce which admits of return); because the
husband may take back his wife, without her consent, during the period
of her “’eddeh” (which will be presently explained), but not after,
unless with her consent, and by a new contract. If he divorce her the
first or second time for a compensation, she perhaps requesting,
“Divorce me for what thou owest me,” or “—hast of mine” (that is, of the
dowry, furniture, etc.), or for an additional sum, he cannot take her
again but by her own consent, and by a new contract. This is a “talák
báïn” (or separating divorce), and is termed “the lesser separation,” to
distinguish it from the third divorce, which is called “the greater
separation.” The “’eddeh” is the period during which a divorced woman or
a widow must wait before marrying again,—in either case, if pregnant,
until delivery; otherwise the former must wait three lunar periods, or
three months, and the latter, four months and ten days. A woman who is
divorced when in a state of pregnancy, though she may make a new
contract of marriage immediately after her delivery, must wait forty
days longer before she can complete her marriage by receiving her
husband. The man who divorces his wife must maintain her in his own
house, or in that of her parents, or elsewhere, during the period of her
’eddeh, but must cease to live with her as her husband from the
commencement of that period. A divorced woman who has a son under two
years of age may retain him until he has attained that age, and may be
compelled to do so by the law of the Sháfe’ees, and by the law of the
Málikees, until he has arrived at puberty, but the Hanafee law limits
the period during which the boy should remain under her care to seven
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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