For an introduction to the theology of divorce, and how it applies in specific cases, kindly wade through this. Here is a sample:
I got married three years ago, very ignorant about "talaq" and how many times your supposed to say it and when you are suppose to say it. Somebody told me that I am suppose to say it three times in order to get divorced with someone and in my mind I thought you were suppose to say it three times in one sitting in order to divorce your spouse. The first time I said it was with text message and this was when my wife was in India and I cant exactly remember why I text her and I text her twice, talaq...
While the young man's ignorance or confusion is understandable, the response from the imam is a horrific example of how Muslims understand marriage. These are some excerpts from a longer answer:
Divorce issued in writing or via e-mail or text message counts as such so long as the intention to divorce is present or it is accompanied by signs that point to intention to divorce.
In order for divorce to be valid, it is not stipulated that the wife should hear it or that witnesses should be present.
If a man divorces his wife and she begins the iddah, then he divorces her again before taking her back, the second divorce does not count according to the more correct opinion, because divorce can only be valid after doing the marriage contract or after taking the wife back.
Confusing? yes. Absurd? well, if divorce is allowed, there must be rules; but the absurdity relates to the Catholic understanding of sacramental marriage:
1601 "The matrimonial covenant, by which a man and a woman establish between themselves a partnership of the whole of life, is by its nature ordered toward the good of the spouses and the procreation and education of offspring; this covenant between baptized persons has been raised by Christ the Lord to the dignity of a sacrament."
1610 Moral conscience concerning the unity and indissolubility of marriage developed under the pedagogy of the old law. In the Old Testament the polygamy of patriarchs and kings is not yet explicitly rejected. Nevertheless, the law given to Moses aims at protecting the wife from arbitrary domination by the husband, even though according to the Lord's words it still carries traces of man's "hardness of heart" which was the reason Moses permitted men to divorce their wives.
1614 In his preaching Jesus unequivocally taught the original meaning of the union of man and woman as the Creator willed it from the beginning permission given by Moses to divorce one's wife was a concession to the hardness of hearts. The matrimonial union of man and woman is indissoluble: God himself has determined it "what therefore God has joined together, let no man put asunder."
...especially not with text messages written in anger. We must pray that the proper understanding of marriage be restored, so that it can provide a beacon to those whose very dignity is threatened.
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