Arab West Report Egyptian press summaries and media research for dialogue

Egypt has recently witnessed one of the strongest

fiqh disputes concerning divorce in Islam and whether it should be oral or should be done

before witnesses. Both Dr. ‘Abd al-Mu‘tī Bayyūmī, professor of

faith and philosophy and member of the Islamic Research Academy, and Dr. Ahmad ‘Abd al

-Rahīm al-Sāyih, professor of faith and philosophy at Azhar University, have aroused

several reactions and disputes among Azhar and Muslim scholars while discussing the issue of

divorce.

Dr. ‘Abd al-Mu‘tī Bayyūmī tells Akhir

Sā‘ah, “There are Sunnī imāms who call for the necessity of

having witnesses during divorce in addition to Shī‘ah imāms.” Dr.

Bayyūmī supports his fatwá saying that divorce is being used as a punishment

that would take place for the most trivial reasons although it breaks one of the most sacred ties;

marriage.

When he was told that the Islamic Research Academy is considering and evaluating

his fatwá, Dr. Bayyūmī said, “This is my opinion and the Islamic Research

Academy is most welcome to discuss and evaluate it. However, I suggest that a discussion be held

in order to exchange ideas and points of view.”

At the same time, Dr. Ahmad ‘Abd

al-Rahīm al-Sāyih asserted to Akhir Sā‘ah that there is no such

thing as ‘oral divorce’ even if these words were coined by the intention to have a divorce. He

then explained that, according to Islam, divorce is something practical which does not take place

except after passing through five different stages that include advice, separation, talking to

other family members, and then comes divorce.

Dr. ‘Ulwī Amīn al-Sayyid,

professor of Fiqh at the Faculty of Sharī‘ah and Law, said that both

Dr Bayyūmī and Dr. al-Sāyih did not say anything new for this is the same opinion as

Shaykh Muhammad al-Ghazālī as well as other imāms like al-Qurtubī.

He added that the Qur’ān mentions that there should be witnesses during divorce. “I

neither agree nor disagree with the fatwá,” he said, “because each divorce case should

be studied separately depending on the situation.”

Dr. ‘Abd al-Fattāh

Idrīs, head of the department of Islamic Sharī‘ah at the Faculty of

Sharī‘ah and Law, commented that divorce in Islam takes place only when the

words for divorce. “This is considered clear divorce that does not require witnesses or even clear

intentions,” he said.