Question:
What is the ruling of getting married in Thailand, but rather divorcing his wife through WhatsApp? They both did not register their marriage at a religious council office. However, the ex-wife requests for a divorce certificate. What is the Shari’a ruling of this and is it in accordance with Malaysian law? Is it permissible for him to just simply utter words of divorce in accordance with Allah’s laws?
Answer:
Alhamdulillah, praise and thanks to Allah for the countless blessings He has blessed us all with. Blessings and salutations to the prophet Muhammad PBUH, his family, companions and all those that follow his teachings to the day of judgement
Allah SWT says:
الطَّلَاقُ مَرَّتَانِ ۖ فَإِمْسَاكٌ بِمَعْرُوفٍ أَوْ تَسْرِيحٌ بِإِحْسَانٍ
“Divorce is twice. Then, either keep [her] in an acceptable manner or release [her] with good treatment.”
Surah Al-Baqarah (229)
In our opinion, one of the couples should quickly go to the Syariah Subordinate (lower) Court to certify the words of divorce uttered. This can be done by bringing the marriage documents obtained from their marriage in Thailand before. If the document is valid and followed the correct procedure, not a nikah syndicate, abide by the rules of Thailand, there will be no problem in processing the application of discontinuation of marriage in Malaysia.
In addition, Islamic Family Law existed in Malaysia is in accordance with basic principles in Islam like justice and ihsan. It is the obligation of Malaysian Muslims to abide by the laws in order to protect the maslahah (public good) and welfare of the society. Just imagine if these procedural laws are abandoned, a man, for example, may easily declare not yet being married, then marries more than four women at the same time, like what had happened recently in our country where a man fakes his documents. In this world which full of fitnah and lack of religious knowledge, this procedure and laws are crucial in order to protect the usually oppressed parties especially women and children.
In fact, in the above case, what will happen if the husband intends to get back to his wife, but he has no witness? What if the wife does not want to declare ever getting married to the man? Or after divorce, the wife found out she is pregnant, but the husband denies his child? And there are numerous possibilities due to not settling the marriage through the proper channel. Here we can see the duty of a judge to settle cases as written in fiqh books.
Hence, obeying the Islamic Family Law is wajib (obligatory).