As the case against the Triple Talaq law is being heard in the Supreme Court of India, several Muslim countries in the world have already done away with the patriarchal and archaic law in favour of more progressive divorce laws that respect the rights of women and the religious law.
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Pakistan and Bangladesh
Among the Islamic countries that have done away with the Triple Talaq law is Pakistan. India’s neighbour had reformed the divorce in 1961 and required the husband to submit a notice to the chairman of the local council and a copy of the notice to his wife. The law also clearly stated that there would be no restrictions on a woman remarrying her husband, effectively outlawing the practice of halala or intervening marriage. Bangladesh also inherited Pakistan’s law when it gained independence in 1971
Egypt and Sudan
Egypt was one of the first Islamic countries to reform the talaq law by stating that any instant triple talaq would be considered as one. This prohibited husbands from dissolving marriages in one sitting. This reform was adopted by Sudan in 1935 as well.
Turkey
Turkey took a more secular approach and adopted the Swiss Civil Code into its Turkish Civil Code in 1926. The Swiss code essentially took religious laws out of the civil code and made divorces recognizable only in a court of law.
Indonesia and Tunisia
In Indonesia, divorce can only be claimed in a court of law and can only be ratified in accordance with Article 19 of Indonesia’s Marriage Regulation. Tunisia also bypassed religious laws by not recognizing any divorce claims outside a court of law and a period of reconciliation is required before divorce can be made official.
Additonally, several Islamic nations in the Middle East and Africa have adopted Ibn Taimiyah (1268-1328), a Hanbali scholar who argued that three talaqs in one sitting counts as one. Iraq, United Arab Emirates, and Jordan among others have adopted the three-as-one position with regard to the triple talaq law.
These countries show that the triple talaq law finds no place in the civil laws of most Islamic countries. In fact, 20 nations with Islamic majority do not find mention of the triple talaq law. Here’s a full list of those Islamic majority countries:
- Pakistan
- Bangladesh
- Turkey
- Cyprus
- Tunisia
- Algeria
- Sarawak (a Malaysian state)
- Iran
- Iraq
- Sri Lanka
- Jordan
- Indonesia
- UAE
- Qatar
- Sudan
- Morocco
- Egypt
- Iraq
- Brunei
- Malaysia