Divorce and remarriage — Islam

What the specification asks for

Paper 1, Section 2, 2.6 (Islam). Assessed on AO1 (knowledge and understanding) and AO2 (analysis and evaluation), weighted equally. Incandio is aligned to this specification. It is not published by, endorsed by or affiliated with Pearson, and it reproduces none of Pearson's indicative content — the point numbers are given so you can check every unit against your own copy.

1 · Understand it

The Qur'an's instruction for a failing marriage is not addressed to the couple. It tells the community to appoint an arbitrator from his family and one from hers. Somebody's aunt and somebody's uncle are given a job — which tells you that in this tradition a marriage breaking down is not treated as a private matter that the household will sort out.

What it means

Islam permits divorce and dislikes it. The recorded saying that divorce is the most hated of the lawful things captures the whole position: the contract can be ended, and ending it is a failure rather than a neutral option.

Talaq is divorce initiated by the husband, pronounced and then subject to a waiting period. Khula is divorce initiated by the wife, usually by returning the mahr. Faskh is judicial dissolution by an Islamic court on grounds such as cruelty or desertion. So a woman may end a marriage — through khula, through a condition written into the contract, or through a court — and saying that Muslim women cannot obtain a divorce is simply wrong.

The iddah is the waiting period of about three months after a divorce, during which reconciliation remains possible and any pregnancy is not in doubt. It is where most of the marks in this unit sit, and it is what answers the picture of an instant divorce.

Hakam is the arbitrator the Qur'an instructs to be appointed, one from each family, before a marriage is ended.

Because marriage is a contract rather than a sacrament, remarriage after divorce carries no religious penalty — which is a genuine and examinable contrast with Catholic teaching. The live disagreement inside Islam is over triple talaq pronounced in one sitting: treated as binding by some classical jurists, as invalid or sinful by others, and now abolished or restricted by law in many Muslim-majority countries. Shi'a law requires witnesses to the pronouncement, which makes an instant private divorce impossible.

Why believers hold it

The reasoning is that a contract which cannot be ended traps people, so the Islamic answer to a broken marriage is to slow the ending rather than to forbid it. Arbitration, the waiting period and the strong disapproval all function as friction: they make divorce possible but not quick.

That is a different design from indissolubility, and the strongest comparison available in this unit is to say what each design protects. Catholic teaching protects the permanence of the bond; Islamic law protects the people inside it. Both are reasoning carefully from the same premise about the seriousness of marriage and reaching opposite conclusions.

The arbitration instruction carries a further point. Because it is addressed to the families rather than to the couple, Islamic law treats a marriage breakdown as something the wider family has a duty in — which is exactly why divorce is easier to obtain in Islamic law than in Catholic teaching and harder to obtain quietly.

The honest criticism is about enforcement rather than design. The procedures can favour the husband in practice, and instant triple talaq shows what happens to a procedure with no witnesses: it becomes the opposite of what it was for. That is why several schools reject it and why many states have restricted it, and an answer that reports it as the Islamic position rather than as a contested practice has described the abuse instead of the law.

Where it comes from

• The Qur'an — Qur'an 42:40 (with 42:43) (translated)

  The recompense for an injury is an injury equal to it; but whoever forgives ... his reward is with Allah.

  Justice permits proportionate retaliation, and forgiveness is explicitly the higher path. Both are held in one verse.

  What it is doing here: Supplies the preference for restraint and forgiveness over the exercise of a right, which is the attitude the friction in the procedure is trying to produce.

• The Qur'an — Qur'an 17:23–24 (translated)

  Be good to your parents ... and lower your wing in humility towards them.

  Duty to parents is placed immediately after duty to God, and the passage specifically covers their old age.

  What it is doing here: Establishes the obligations that survive a marriage ending, which is why the wider family's role does not stop when the contract does.

• Hadith — Sahih al-Bukhari, Book of Faith (translated)

  None of you truly believes until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself.

  Faith is measured by how one treats others. One of the most widely cited hadith on social ethics.

  What it is doing here: Gives the standard of conduct expected of both parties during the process, which is what turns a legal procedure into a moral one.

Where it bites

A couple in difficulty are sent first to the arbitrators the Qur'an describes and to their imam, and only afterwards to a Sharia council where one operates alongside the civil courts of the country.

A divorced Muslim woman keeps her mahr, which is the point of her having been given it; maintenance during the waiting period is the husband's responsibility; and the extended family is expected to support the household afterwards rather than treating the divorce as a private failure to be lived down.

What people get wrong

People think: A Muslim man can divorce his wife by saying a word three times.

Actually: That describes triple talaq in one sitting, which some classical jurists treated as binding, others held invalid or sinful, and many Muslim-majority states have now abolished or restricted. Reporting it as the Islamic position omits the waiting period, the arbitration and the schools that reject it.

People think: Muslim women cannot obtain a divorce.

Actually: Khula, a condition written into the marriage contract, and judicial dissolution by a court all exist. The procedures can favour the husband in practice, which is a fair criticism of enforcement, and it is a different claim from saying the routes do not exist.

People think: Christians believe divorce is always wrong.

Actually: That is the Catholic position; Orthodox Christianity permits it in limited circumstances and most Protestant churches permit divorce and remarriage. The distinction matters here because the comparison this unit rewards is with Catholic indissolubility specifically, and making it with Christianity as a whole makes it inaccurate.

What the examiner expects you to understand

• Name the iddah; it is where most of the AO1 credit in this unit sits and it is routinely omitted.
• Do not report instant triple talaq as the Islamic position — say that it is contested and that several schools reject it.
• State that remarriage after divorce carries no religious penalty, because the contrast with Catholic teaching is the strongest material here.
• Give at least one route by which a woman may end a marriage; saying she cannot is factually wrong.
• For the twelve-mark question, compare the two designs and say what each protects rather than which religion is stricter.

2 · Grade 9 Notes

Core belief / issue

Islam permits divorce and dislikes it. The Prophet's recorded saying that divorce is the most hated of the lawful things captures the whole position: the contract can be ended, but ending it is a failure rather than a neutral option. Because marriage is a contract and not a sacrament, remarriage after divorce carries no religious penalty — a genuine and examinable contrast with Catholic teaching.

Key terminology

Incandio's mark schemes credit the religion's own vocabulary; spelling variants are accepted, a vague paraphrase is not.

Talaq

Divorce initiated by the husband, pronounced and then subject to a waiting period.

Khula (also khul')

Divorce initiated by the wife, usually by returning the mahr.

Iddah (also idda)

The waiting period of about three months after a divorce, during which reconciliation is possible and paternity is clear.

Faskh

Judicial dissolution of a marriage by an Islamic court, on grounds such as cruelty or desertion.

Hakam

An arbitrator; the Qur'an instructs that one be appointed from each family before a marriage is ended.

What Islam teaches

• shared — Divorce is lawful but strongly discouraged, and reconciliation must be attempted first, including arbitration by a representative of each family.
• shared — A woman may end a marriage as well as a man — through khula, through a condition written into the contract, or through a court.
• shared — The iddah follows a divorce, so that reconciliation remains possible and any pregnancy is not in doubt.
• shared — Remarriage after divorce is permitted and carries no religious penalty.

Why it teaches this

The reasoning is that a contract which cannot be ended traps people, so Islam's answer to a broken marriage is to slow the ending rather than to forbid it. Arbitration, the iddah and the strong disapproval all function as friction: they make divorce possible but not quick. That is a different design from indissolubility, and a strong answer says what each design protects — Catholic teaching protects the permanence of the bond, Islamic law protects the people inside it.

Sources of authority

• The Qur'an — Qur'an 42:40 (with 42:43) (translated)

  The recompense for an injury is an injury equal to it; but whoever forgives ... his reward is with Allah.

  Justice permits proportionate retaliation, and forgiveness is explicitly the higher path. Both are held in one verse.

  How to use it: It gives an Islamic answer that is neither purely retributive nor purely forgiving, which is why it is far better than citing 'an eye for an eye' alone.

  What it does not settle: Whether forgiveness should be the state's policy or the individual's choice is not settled by it.

• The Qur'an — Qur'an 17:23–24 (translated)

  Be good to your parents ... and lower your wing in humility towards them.

  Duty to parents is placed immediately after duty to God, and the passage specifically covers their old age.

  How to use it: Because the duty is placed next to worship, care for elderly parents is an act of religion and not merely of affection — which is a much stronger answer on family than 'Muslims value family'.

  What it does not settle: It does not address the modern institutional questions about care directly.

• Hadith — Sahih al-Bukhari, Book of Faith (translated)

  None of you truly believes until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself.

  Faith is measured by how one treats others. One of the most widely cited hadith on social ethics.

  How to use it: It makes belief and ethics inseparable — a Muslim cannot claim faith while wronging a neighbour — which is why hadith is a source of authority alongside the Qur'an rather than an illustration of it.

  What it does not settle: Hadith authority differs between traditions, and the Qur'anists reject hadith entirely — a group the Pearson mark schemes themselves mention.

Different interpretations

• Triple talaq in one sitting: treated as binding by some classical jurists, as invalid or sinful by others, and now abolished or restricted by law in many Muslim-majority countries. This is the live disagreement.
• Khula read as requiring the husband's agreement in some schools, and as obtainable through a court without it in others.
• The iddah read primarily as establishing paternity, and read as a deliberate cooling-off period; both readings are held and they do not conflict.

Differences within Islam

The permissibility of divorce is shared; the procedure genuinely differs, and the sharpest difference is over whether a divorce can be made instantly and privately.

• Sunni — The schools differ over the validity of a triple pronouncement made at once, and over how far a court may grant khula without the husband's consent.
• Shi'a — Requires witnesses to the pronouncement of talaq, which makes an instant private divorce impossible.

Application to the issue

In practice a couple in difficulty are pointed first to family arbitration and to the imam, then to a Sharia council in countries where one operates alongside the civil courts. A divorced Muslim woman keeps her mahr; maintenance during the iddah is the husband's responsibility; and the tradition expects the extended family to support the household afterwards.

Arguments supporting

• A marriage that has failed should be endable, because forcing it to continue harms both people and any children. — Islamic law treats the welfare of the parties as a legitimate reason to end a contract. (islam)
  Answered by: The availability of an exit may weaken the commitment that makes marriages survive difficulty, which is the Catholic argument for indissolubility.
• The waiting period and arbitration protect against divorce in anger. — They put time and other people between the decision and its effect. (shared)
  Answered by: They only work where they are observed, and the practice of instant triple talaq shows they can be bypassed.

Arguments challenging

• The procedures favour the husband. — Talaq is his to pronounce; khula usually costs the wife her mahr. (non-religious)
  Answered by: A woman can secure the right to divorce as a written condition of the contract, and a court can dissolve a marriage without the husband — though the criticism has force where those routes are unavailable in practice.
• Permitting divorce weakens marriage as an institution. — A promise that can be released is a weaker promise. (catholic)
  Answered by: Islam answers that a promise which traps is not stronger but crueller, and that the cost of indissolubility falls on the people in the worst marriages.

Secular / non-religious perspective

Non-religious people generally hold that divorce should be available without fault and without stigma, since a relationship that has ended in fact should be able to end in law. Humanists share the Islamic concern to protect children and the financially weaker partner, but locate those protections in the civil law rather than in a religious procedure.

Examinable throughout Paper 1. Nothing here earns a mark on Paper 2.

Evaluation

The hinge: What the rules about divorce are for — protecting the institution, or protecting the people inside it. Islam and Catholicism answer differently, and both answers are religious.

Defensible conclusions

• Islamic law strikes a better balance than either extreme: it treats divorce as a genuine failure and still refuses to trap people in it.
• The design is only as good as its enforcement, and instant talaq shows that a procedure with no witnesses can become the opposite of what it was for.
• The comparison with Catholic indissolubility is the strongest material here, because it shows two religions reasoning carefully from the same premise about the seriousness of marriage to opposite conclusions.

Not defensible

• Saying Islam allows a man to divorce his wife by saying a word three times, with no mention of the iddah, arbitration, or the schools that reject it.
• Saying Muslim women cannot obtain a divorce — khula, contractual conditions and judicial dissolution all exist.

Exam use

• Identify · 3 marks — Three Muslim beliefs about divorce, or three steps taken before a divorce in Islam.
• Outline · 4 marks — Two beliefs developed. 'Muslims believe divorce is permitted but hated (1) — so arbitration from both families must be tried before the marriage is ended (1).'
• Explain · 6 marks — Explain Muslim attitudes to divorce and remarriage: the contract, the discouragement, the iddah, and the absence of stigma on remarriage.
• Evaluate · 12 marks — 'Marriage should be for life.' The comparison with Catholic indissolubility is the strongest available material, on either side.

Common mistakes

• Reporting instant triple talaq as though it were the Islamic position rather than a contested practice several schools reject.
• Assuming Islamic and Christian teaching agree because both value marriage; on remarriage they differ sharply.
• Omitting the iddah, which is where most of the AO1 credit sits.

“Christians believe divorce is always wrong.” — That is the Catholic position. Orthodox Christianity permits divorce in limited circumstances, and most Protestant churches permit divorce and remarriage.

Write instead: Name the tradition. 'Catholic teaching holds marriage indissoluble, so the Church annuls rather than divorces' is accurate and scores; 'Christians believe' on a divided question is not. Do not over-correct. Many claims genuinely ARE shared — the Trinity, the resurrection, the authority of the Bible — and hedging those makes an answer weaker, not more careful. (Named in the 2025 examiner report for Paper 1.)

Grade 9 insight

The Qur'an's instruction on a failing marriage is not addressed to the couple at all: it tells the community to appoint an arbitrator from HIS family and one from HERS. That detail carries a Level 4 point — Islamic law treats a marriage breakdown as something the wider family has a duty in, which is exactly why divorce is easier to obtain in Islamic law than in Catholic teaching and harder to obtain quietly.

Carry on through Islam

• Previous unit: 2.5 · Marriage and partnership
• Next unit: 2.7 · Family structures and responsibilities
• Divorce and remarriage in the other religions: Buddhism · Christianity · Hinduism · Judaism · Sikhism
• All of Islam · Incandio Religious Studies · The 4RS1 specification