Page 42 - The Mercy of Believers

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THE MERCY OF BELIEVERS

When you divorce women and they are near the end
of their waiting period , then either retain them with
correctness and courtesy or release them with cor-
rectness and courtesy. Do not retain them by force,
thus overstepping the limits. Anyone who does that
has wronged himself… (Surat al-Baqara: 231)

In obedience to this decree of Allah, believers termi-
nate their marriages with the same good intentions as
they had when they initially married. With divorce, men
never lose the respect they had for their wives. In this
sense, divorce never becomes a cause to dispute or to hurt
one another. Believers marry to earn the approval of Allah
and divorce with the same intention. Therefore, neither
by his words nor his acts does a believer put the woman
he divorces in a difficult situation. Furthermore, since be-
lievers love other believers for their faith and moral per-
fection, the love and respect spouses feel for one another
never disappear with divorce.

Lodging divorced women

Thanks to the merciful attitude the Qur'an enjoins
upon man, believers do not leave the women they divorce
in a desperate situation without providing them with ad-
equate means to live. Women may not have a family that
can take care of them or even a house in which to stay.
Considering these and similar conditions, believers, al-
though divorced, ensure the welfare of women, until they
find a way to support themselves.
Upon their mutual decision, believers allow the
women they divorce to live in their own houses or in