khula
Khula is the dissolution of marriage on the wife’s initiative, in which she offers consideration (often returning or giving up her mahr) for her release. Classical texts treat it as a divorce by mutual arrangement accepted by the husband. It differs from mubarat, where the aversion is mutual and both desire separation.
The Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act, 1937 expressly applies Muslim personal law to khula. In 2021 the Kerala High Court held that khula is a right of the wife that she may exercise without the husband’s consent, subject to an offer to return the dower and an attempt at reconciliation. Khula is extra-judicial; it is distinct from a court decree under the Dissolution of Muslim Marriages Act, 1939.
Example
Rather than file a suit under the 1939 Act, she sought khula and offered to give up her unpaid mahr.
In Indian law
- Section 2, Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act, 1937
See also
mubarat · talaq · mahr · iddat
Read more in the study notes
- Centre-State legislative relations (Constitutional Law II)
- Constitutional interpretation (Constitutional Law II)
- Sources of Muslim law (Family Law II - Mohammedan Law)
- Talaq and the modes of dissolution of a Muslim marriage (Family Law II - Mohammedan Law)
- Iddat and the legal effects of divorce (Family Law II - Mohammedan Law)
- Principles of constitutional interpretation: pith and substance, colourable legislation, occupied field and repugnancy (Interpretation of Statutes and Principles of Legislation)