Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 December 2009
The peculiarity of the Druze law of divorce does not lie in the mechanism of dissolution, which is not materially different from that of the Muslim sharī'a, but in its effects: a dissolved marriage cannot be restored; the repudiation of the wife by itself creates an absolute bar to a remarriage between the parties. Article 11 of the Lebanese Druze Law of Personal Status of 1948 (hereinafter referred to as ‘the Lebanese Druze Law’), which was adopted by the Israeli Druze Community in 1961, provides, in conformity with Druze religious law, that a man must not remarry his divorced wife. Unlike Islamic law, Druze law does not distinguish between revocable (raj'ī) divorce, which does not immediately sever the marital bond but permits reinstating the wife during the waiting-period ('idda) by express utterance or significant conduct, and irrevocable (bā'in) divorce, which takes immediate effect; reinstatement in the latter case requires the conclusion of a new marriage with all that this implies (dower, etc.). A Druze divorce is absolute under any circumstances; the wife cannot be reinstated by way of taḥlīl, i.e. an intermediate marriage to another man and divorce from him so as to become again permitted to her first husband; this course is adopted in Islamic law after the third repudiation. Although the Lebanese Druze Law does not say so expressly, it seems that the legislator intended to block the reinstatement of the wife and restoration of the marriage by every possible means. In fact, religious law goes so far as to forbid divorced spouses to meet under the same roof even if separated by many partitions. The ban on taking back a divorced wife dates from the early days of the Druze religion.
2 Layish, A., ‘Ha-shipūṭ ha-'adatī shel ha-Drūzīm be-Yisra'el’, Ha-Mizraḥ he-Ḥadash, XI, 4, 1961, 261–2.Google Scholar
3 Anderson, J. N. D., ‘The personal law of the Druze community’, Die Welt des Islams, NS, II, 1, 1952, 4, II, 2, 1952, 83Google Scholar; de Bellefonds, Y. Linant, Traité de droit musulman comparé, II, Paris, La Haye, 1965, 321f.Google Scholar; Schacht, J., Introduction to Islamic law, Oxford, 1964, 163–4Google Scholar; Fyzee, A. A. A., Outlines of Muhammadan law, third ed., London, 1964, 143 f.Google Scholar; Anderson, J. N. D., Islamic law in the modern world, London, 1959, 42Google Scholar; Coulson, N. J., A history of Islamic law, Edinburgh, 1964, 111–12Google Scholar; Layish, A., Women and Islamic law in a non-Muslim state, New York, 1975, 173.Google Scholar
4 Ṭalī', Amīn Muḥammad, Aṣl al-muwaḥḥidīn al-Durūz wa-uṣūluhum, Beirut, 1961, 153.Google Scholar
5 Anderson, , ‘The personal law’, 83–6Google Scholar; de Bellefonds, Linant, II, 453 f.Google Scholar; Hinchcliffe, Doreen, ‘Divorce in Pakistan: judicial reform’, Journal of Islamic and Comparative Law, II, 1968, 16.Google Scholar
6 Layish, A., ‘Compensation to the divorced woman in the Israeli Druze family’, Israel Law Review, XII, 3, 1977, 332 f.Google Scholar
7 Ḥarīz, Salim, ‘al-Shar' al-Durzī’, al-Wāqi' al-Durzī wa-ḥatmiyyat al-taṭawwur, Beirut, Majmu'at Muḥāḍarāt, Manshūrāt Rābiṭat al-'Amal al-Ijtimā'ī, 1962, 83–6Google Scholar; Ṭalī', , 154Google Scholar; Kamāl, Zakī, ‘al-Qaḍā' fī 'l-maḥākim al-dīniyya al-Durziyya’, Majallat al-Akhbār al-Durziyya, v, 1971, 44, 46Google Scholar; idem, ‘al-Qaḍā' al-ṭa'īfī al-Durzī fī Isrā'īl’, Majallat al-Akhbār al-Durziyya, IV, 3–4, 1970, 74Google Scholar. For more detail see Layish, A., Marriage, divorce and succession in the Druze family (forthcoming), chapter on divorce.Google Scholar
8 Anderson, J. N. D., ‘Reforms in the law of divorce in the Muslim world’, Studio Islamica, XXXI, 1970, 49Google Scholar; idem, ‘The eclipse of the patriarchal family in contemporary Islamic law’ in his (ed.), Family law in Asia and Africa, London, 1967, 207Google Scholar; idem, Islamic law, 48Google Scholar; idem, Law reform in the Muslim world, London, 1976, 43 f.Google Scholar; Coulson, , History, 172, 173, 178.Google Scholar
9 See, e.g., Haifa Court, Ṭalāq, Files 39/65, 71/65, 36/70 and 144/74.
10 Haifa, Ṭalāq, File 64/65.
11 See, e.g., Haifa, Ṭalāq, Files 6/67, 89/69, 125/71 (23 years after the divorce), and 131/73.
12 Haifa, Ṭalāq, File 82/69 (published in Majallat al-Akhbār al-Durziyya, V, 1971, 74–5Google Scholar) and File 121/73 of 29 November 1973; Haifa, Nafaqa, File 58/64, and the Golan Heights Court, Ṭalāq wa-Nafaqa, File 58/72, respectively. See also Mu'adi, Kamāl, ‘al-Mar'a al-Durziyya, ḥuqūquhā, wājibātuhā, zawājuhā, ṭalāquhā’, Majallat al-Akhbār al-Durziyya, VI, 1973, 22.Google Scholar
13 Druze Division, Ministry of Religious Affairs, File DB/18 of 19 01 1960Google Scholar; 'Abbās, Najīb Jad'ān, ‘al-Zawāj wa 'l-'ā'ila fī qaryat al-Buqay'a’, Majallat al-Akhbār al-Durziyya, II, 3, 1959, 22Google Scholar; Fallāḥ, Salmān, Toledot ha-Drūzīm be-Yisra'el, Jerusalem, 1974, 111–12Google Scholar; Oliphant, L., Haifa, or life in the Holy Land, 1882–1885, new ed., Jerusalem, 1976, 472Google Scholar; Bouron, N., Les Druzes; histoire du Liban et de la Montagne haouranaise, Paris, 1930, 313.Google Scholar
14 Golan, Ṭalāq, File 51/74.
15 Druze Division, File 4/59/1 Talaq, File D/l/54 of 13 07 1959Google Scholar, 21 July 1959, 18 August 1959, 2 October 1959, and 20 October 1959, File 7/4/60 of 2 July 1960 and 17 August 1960, and File MA/35/2 of 10 July 1961 and 12 July 1961.
16 Haifa, Nafaqa, File 77/65, and Ṭalāq, File 90/65, and Haifa, Ṭalāq, File 110/71, respectively.
17 Haifa, Ṭalāq, Files 132/74, 68/74, and 126/74.
18 Mu'adi, , al-Mar'a, 22–3Google Scholar, interview with Ḥalabī, Shaykh Nūr al-Dīn on 23 04 1974Google Scholar, and with Farḥāt, Rāmiz on 7 10 1974.Google Scholar
19 Druze Division, File DB/18 of 16 01 1960Google Scholar; Bouron, , 313.Google Scholar
20 Haifa, Ṭalāq, File 132/74.
21 Lavish, , ‘Ha-shipūṭ’, 258–62Google Scholar; idem, ‘He'arot le-Ḥoq Batey Ha-Dīn ha-Drūziyīm, 5723–1962’, Ha-Mizraḥ he-Ḥadash, vol. XV, 1–2, 1965, 97–103.Google Scholar
22 Druze Division, File 1/3/29, letter from Population Registry, No. 44–613 of 15 06 1955Google Scholar, Hearing No. 5 of 12 October 1955 and 2 January 1956.
23 Anderson, , ‘The personal law’, p. 4, n. 2Google Scholar; cf. Layish, , Women and Islamic law, 174 fGoogle Scholar. and the sources indicated there.
24 Layish, A., ‘Sharī'a u-minhag ba-mishpaba ha-Muslimit be- Yisra'el’, Ha-Mizraḥ he-Ḥadash, XXIII, 4, 1974, 380 f.Google Scholar
25 Dnize Division, File DB/18 of 16 01 1960Google Scholar (Shaykh Kamāl Mu'adī), 19 January 960 (Shaykh Amīn Ṭarīf), and 28 January 1960 (Shaykh Aḥmad Khayr); Golan, Ṭalāq, File 51/74.
26 Mu'adi, , al-Mar'a, 19–23Google Scholar; Druze Division, File DB/18 of 16 01 1960Google Scholar; interviews with Ḥalabī, Shaykh Nūr al-Dīn on 23 04 1974, and 27 07 1974.Google Scholar
27 Druze Division, File M 1/3/29; Committee for the Supervision of Ma'dhūns, Meeting No. 5 of 12 10 1955.Google Scholar
28 cf. Layish, , Women and Islamic law, 328Google Scholar; idem, ‘Sharī'a u-mirihag’, 380 f.Google Scholar
29 Haifa, Ṭalāq, File 134/72, and Court of Appeal, Ṭalāq, File 142/74; interview with Rukn, Shaykh Labīb Abū on 5 03 1974Google Scholar. For differences of opinion among the qāḍīs concerning the criteria of the validity of talāq see Lavish, , Marriage, chapter on divorce.Google Scholar
30 Layish, , Women and Islamic law, 173Google Scholar, and the sources indicated there.
31 Haifa, Ṭalāq, File 100/74. See also Golan, Ithbāt Ṭalāq, File 4/73.
32 Haifa, Ṭalāq, File 19/67; Lavish, , ‘Ma'amad ika-Islam ba-mishpaḥa Tia-Drūzīt be- Yiara'el’, Ha-Mizraḥ. he-Ḥadash, XXVI, 3–4, 1977, 155 ff.Google Scholar
33 Haifa, Ṭalāq, File 80/72. See also Haifa, Ṭalāq, Files 8/64, 13/64, 26/64, 96/64, 46/72, 134/73, 139/73, 10/74, 104/74; Golan, Ṭalāq, Files 51/74, 56/74.
34 Golan, Ṭalāq wa-Nafaqa, File 58/72.
35 See, e.g., Haifa, Ṭalāq, Files 68/74 and 126/74.
36 Haifa, Faskh Zawāj, File 97/73, and Golan, Tathbit Ṭalāq, File 74/74.
37 Druze Division, File 7/4/60 of 2 07 1960 and 17 08 1960.Google Scholar
38 Haifa, Ṭalāq, File 132/72; lecture by Rukn, Shaykh Labīb Abū to students of Tel-Aviv University on 18 05 1975Google Scholar, and lecture by the same at Hillel, Beth, Jerusalem, on 31 05 1976.Google Scholar
39 See, e.g., Haifa, Ṭalāq, Files 15/65 of 19 October 1965, 39/65, 60/65, 85/65, 110/65, 17/66, 36/66, 60/66, 81/66, 19/67, 134/73, 139/73.
40 See, e.g., Druze Division, File M 1/3/29, Meeting No. 7 of 30 06 1959.Google Scholar
41 Haifa, Ṭalāq, File 75/64 of 26 May 1964.
42 See, e.g., Haifa, Ṭalāq, Files 1/67, 2/67; Golan, Ṭalāq, File 72/72 (Shaykh Labīb Abū Rukn).
43 Haifa, Ṭalāq, File 61/72 (published in Majallat al-Akhbār al-Durziyya, VI, 1973, 87–91).Google Scholar
44 Mu'adī, , al-Mar'a, 19, 22–5.Google Scholar
45 ibid., 22, 29.
46 Haifa, , Ṭalāq, Files 75/64 of 10 02 1965, and 60/65, and Ḥāla Madaniyya, File 77/66, respectively.Google Scholar
47 Haifa, Ṭalāq, File 82/69; interview with Ḥalabī, Shaykh Nūr al-Dīn on 11 09 1975.Google Scholar
48 Mu'adī, , al-Mar'a, 19Google Scholar; interview with Mu'adī, Shaykh Kamāl on 5 03 1974.Google Scholar
49 Haifa, Ṭalāq, Files 132/74 and 134/72, respectively.
50 Interview with Ḥalabī, Shaykh Nūr al-Dīn on 23 04 1974Google Scholar, and with Farḥāt, Shaykh Muḥammad 'Alī on 7 10 1974.Google Scholar