Page 166 - Seekers Guide Book

Islam and the Quran
the utterance triple talaq in one go, thus finalizing the
divorce of a man who pronounces the word ‘talaq’ to his
wife thrice in one sitting. This was a temporary ruling
and did not have permanent applicability. If people
knew that Umar was a caliph with the power of giving
out an executive order, they would have taken his ruling
in the matter of divorce as applicable only to his time.
But our ulema made Umar’s executive order as a part
of the Shariah. This was a mistake, as Umar’s directive
was different from the method of divorce prescribed in
the Quran. The Quran asks a man to divorce his wife by
pronouncing the word ‘talaq’ on three separate occasions
over a period of three months and not instantly in one
go.

The law as has been laid down in the Quran must not
be changed, although there should always remain scope
for interpretation. Interpretation of law does not create
problem, but if you change the text, then that would be
tantamount to creating problems.

Sanctity of law is more important than the law itself. This
why the entire British legal system is based on tradition,
there being no written Constitution. The reason is that
they are aware that sanctity is very important. If sanctity
is compromised, respect for law will also be gone.

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