Selected Jurisprudential Issues Pertaining to Divorce According to the Shafi‘i School by Mulla Uthman al-Khormali (d. 1369 AH / 1950 AD): A Critical Edition and Study

Abstract

Islam has taken care of the family in terms of foundation, continuation and termination, and has legislated divorce as a last tool to solve the problems of married life when other tools have been exhausted. Hence, Islamic jurists have paid great attention to divorce by clarifying its rules. Among those jurists is Mulla Othman Al-Khormeli, who has collected some important issues closely related to divorce in this manuscript. He has explained the actual and conditional divorce, the suspension of divorce by the impossible and the possible, the suspension of divorce by the act of the swearer or by the act of another, and the suspension of divorce by a condition. The research has investigated the manuscript scientifically; enriching the Islamic library and contributing to clarifying the rules of divorce.

Islamic jurists have meticulously addressed the rulings on divorce due to its importance and close connection to the institution of the family. Islam has prescribed it as a last resort for resolving marital problems, when all other means have been exhausted. Undoubtedly, the publication of this manuscript, written by a Kurdish scholar, contributes significantly to the Islamic library on divorce. In this manuscript, Mulla Uthman al-Khurmali addresses several issues related to divorce, matters whose rulings are of great importance to people, such as conditional and unconditional divorce, divorce contingent upon a condition, divorce contingent upon an impossible or possible event, and divorce contingent upon the actions of the one who swore the oath or upon the actions of another. He examines these issues within the framework of Shafi'i jurisprudence.