Shurut al-Talaq - al-Zuman
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- Editions
- Dar al-Lu'lu'ah lil-Nashr wa-al-Tawzi'
Shurut al-Talaq (Conditions of Divorce) is a contemporary treatise on Islamic jurisprudence authored by Ahmad ibn Abd al-Rahman al-Zuman, focusing on the legal prerequisites and conditions required for the validity and implementation of divorce.
Background and Purpose
The author completed the book on the morning of Thursday, 26 Jumada al-Ula 1434 AH (April 2013 CE), in al-Lusayb, a rural area of Buraydah. In the preface, al-Zuman notes that he compiled the work to address the most critical legal questions regarding the conditions of divorce, adopting the same comparative juristic methodology he utilized in his previous work, Ahkam al-Talaq: al-Talaq al-Sunni wa-al-Bid'i (Rulings of Divorce: Sunni and Innovated Divorce). He intended the volume to form part of a broader scholarly effort covering key aspects of the law of divorce.
Contents and Structure
The book is arranged into thematic chapters examining the conditions surrounding the pronouncement, the husband (al-mutalliq), and the wife:
- The Utterance of Divorce (Lafd al-Talaq): Defines the distinction between essential pillars (arkan) and conditions (shurut), outlines the pillars of divorce across the four Sunni legal schools (Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi'i, and Hanbali), and treats matters such as unexpressed internal thoughts of divorce (al-talaq fi al-nafs), resolve (al-'azm), promises of divorce, moving the tongue without audible pronunciation, and the mere belief that divorce has occurred.
- Puberty of the Husband (Ishtirat al-Bulugh): Examines the general conditions required of the husband—puberty, sanity, volition, and Islam—and discusses the consensus and disagreements surrounding the divorce uttered by a discerning child (al-saghir al-mumayyiz).
- Volition and Free Choice (Ishtirat al-Ikhtiyar): Investigates the requirement that the husband act freely, evaluating divorce uttered under rightful versus wrongful duress (al-ikrah), as well as pronouncements made in states of extreme anger (al-ghadban), under the influence of sorcery (al-mashur), or by individuals afflicted with obsessive doubt (al-muwaswas).
- Islam of the Husband (Ishtirat al-Islam): Analyzes opinions regarding the condition of Islam, detailing rulings concerning the divorce and marriage of non-Muslims, apostates, and couples when one or both spouses convert to Islam.
- Divorce Pertaining to a Valid Wife (Ishtirat an Yakun al-Talaq 'ala Zawjah): Assesses the condition that the subject of divorce must be an actual wife, exploring pronouncements directed at women in revocable divorce (al-raj'iyyah), irrevocable divorce (al-ba'in), pre-marital pronouncements, contested or invalid marriages, and women separated via khul'.
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