Hawalah

Change in law of divorce by Caliph Umar..

During Prophet Mohammad's and Abu Bakr's era divorce given at a time whether one or fifty were to be considered a single divorce that will followed by a Iddah of four months and ten days and during this period if the couple wanted to reconcile the first divorce will be void. during Umar's reign Muslims conquered Persian and Roman lands and thus came into contact with beautiful and charming Persian and Greek women. It had become a general practice that most of the Muslim soldiers would divorce their Arab wives and marry a Persian or Greek women. According to Islamic tradition, wife was financially responsibility of her husband during Iddah or reconciliation period and was to stay at her husband's home during iddah where now new Persian or Roman mistress of her husband reside as well, the Arab women use to be side lined and the four month iddah would become a period of intense mental stress and sorrow for her. This matter worried Umar who was apprehensive for its social results in future. This all peaked after 636 and Umar thus exercising the Islamic jurisprudence of ijtihaddeclared that from now to so on three Talaq (divorce) will be considered absolute and Nikah (marriage) will be dissolved letting the women free from any authority of her husband. This was done by Umar for public good specially for women for whom this was a sign of relief. One year later in 637 after the conquest of Byzantine capital city of eastern zone Antioch Umar declared that those Muslim who already have four wives cant divorce any of their wife to marry a Roman or Persian women.