Ismah

The following had been extracted by Ahmed Fazel Ebrahim from (internet Article) Muslim Marriage Contract in American Courts by Azizah Y. al-Hibri, T. C. Williams School of Law, University of Richmond, <aalhibri@richmond.edu> , Minaret of Freedom Banquet, May 20, 2000.

(In Islam there is a form of marriage in which the woman retains for herself, in the marriage contract, the right to divorce her husband. It's called "keeping the ’ismah in her hand. "This language, “keeping the ’ismah,” has two different meanings in the Muslim world. In some countries (Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, etc.) it means the woman may divorce at will. In other countries it could mean that the husband loses the right to divorce and only the woman can divorce, which is an extreme result. And there are certain jurisdictions which will allow the woman to keep the ’ismah in her hand, but she could lose it very easily, so you have to learn all these jurisdictional distinctions. In one case, a woman had written in her marriage contract that the ’ismah was in her own hand (malaktu amri biyadi), so that she could divorce at will. This meant that, when she wanted to divorce, she would simply tell her husband "I divorce you" and then goes to an imam to record the divorce, and she would be done. The husband’s input/consent is not required for this process.)

The fiqh of the above needs elaboration and verification