Development of Khul‘ Law: Legal, Judicial and Interpretive Trends in Pakistan Muhammad Ahmad Munir Institute of Islamic Studies McGill University, Montreal January 2020 A thesis submitted to McGill University in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy © Muhammad Ahmad Munir, 2020 Table of Contents Abstract ................................................................................................................................................. 5 Résumé .................................................................................................................................................. 5 Acknowledgements .............................................................................................................................. 6 A Note on Transliteration .................................................................................................................... 8 Introduction .......................................................................................................................................... 9 The Question of Ijtihād: What is Ijtihād? ........................................................................................... 13 The ‘Ulamā’ in Modern Pakistan......................................................................................................... 19 Literature Review ................................................................................................................................. 26 Chapter Outline .................................................................................................................................... 30 Chapter 1 ............................................................................................................................................. 34 Khulʻ in Sunni Classical Islamic Law .................................................................................................. 34 Introduction .......................................................................................................................................... 34 The Meaning and Usage of Khul‘ as a Technical Juristic Term ...................................................... 37 An Overview of Divorce in Islamic Law ............................................................................................ 39 On the legal differences between a khulʿ and ṭalāq ʿalā al-mal (divorce with payment) ............ 41 Is the Khulʻ a Divorce (ṭalāq) or an Annulment (faskh)? .................................................................. 43 The Khulʻ as Annulment (Faskh): Legal Interpretations of the Qur’ān and Ḥadīth ...................... 45 The Khulʻ as Divorce: The Majority (Jumhūr) Juristic Opinion ....................................................... 47 Consent of the Husband in Khulʻ in Pre-Modern Islamic Law ....................................................... 49 Prophetic Treatment of Khulʻ: The Case of Thābit b. Qays ............................................................ 54 Did the Prophet Himself Pronounce Khul‘ to Ḥabība on Behalf of Thābit? ................................. 59 Khulʻ in the Four Sunni Schools of Law ............................................................................................. 61 Khulʻ in Shāfi‘ī Jurisprudence ............................................................................................................. 64 The Ḥanbalī School and Khulʻ ............................................................................................................. 66 Resumption of the Conjugal Relationship during the Waiting Period from Khulʻ ..................... 68 Khulʻ in the Mālikī School ................................................................................................................... 69 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................. 74 Chapter 2 ............................................................................................................................................. 76 Background and History of Khul‘ Law in Anglo-Muhammadan Law including and up to the Dissolution of Muslim Marriages Act, 1939 ...................................................................................... 76 Introduction .......................................................................................................................................... 76 Judicial Affirmation of Ḥanafī Principles in the Nineteenth Century – Khul‘ Case of 1861 ...... 78 Implementation of Sharī‘a by Way of English Lawyers .................................................................. 79 Situating Apostasy in Muslim Personal Law Reforms in the Twentieth-Century India ........... 87 2 Admitting the Muslim right to implement sharī‘a in personal matters: Muslim Personal Law (Shari‘at) Application Act, 1937 .......................................................................................................... 99 Recognition of Fault-Based Divorce: The Dissolution of Muslim Marriages Act of 1939 ........ 101 Conclusions ......................................................................................................................................... 105 Chapter 3 ........................................................................................................................................... 107 The Pakistani Judicial System and Legislative Intervention in Khul‘ ........................................... 107 Introduction ........................................................................................................................................ 107 Post-Partition Pakistani Family Law Courts .................................................................................. 109 Dissolution of Marriage Procedure ................................................................................................. 115 Bringing Khul‘ Into the Law: The Family Law Amendments of 2002 .......................................... 123 The Law Commission, the Executive, and the Dilemma of 2002 ................................................. 125 Unraveling the Dilemma and Cementing Another: The Amendments of 2015 ........................ 127 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................... 131 Chapter 4 ........................................................................................................................................... 134 Development of Khul‘ Law in Pakistan – Analytical Study of Case Law on Khul‘ Adjudicated by the Superior Judiciary between 1956 and 2001 – Judicial Ijtihād, Interpretive Approach, and Self-Claimed Juristic Authority of the Courts ................................................................................ 134 Introduction ........................................................................................................................................ 134 No Divorce on Grounds of “Incompatibility of Temperaments:” 1945 and 1952 ..................... 135 Mst. Sayeeda Khanam v. Muhammad Sami, Lahore (1952) .................................................................. 136 Khul‘ for “Not Being Able to Observe the Limits of God:” 1959 ................................................... 143 A Full Departure from Ḥanafī Discourse: 1967 .............................................................................. 152 Musst. Khurshid Bibi v. Babu Muhammad Amin (1967) – Khanpur (Rahim Yar Khan) ....................... 154 Conclusion: The Role and Authority of Judicial Ijtihād................................................................. 159 Chapter 5 ........................................................................................................................................... 163 Question of Legitimacy and Moral Dilemma – ‘Ulamā’’s Refusal to Accept Khul‘ Legislation - Fatāwā Nullifying Court Issued Khul‘ Decrees ................................................................................ 163 Mufti Muhammad Taqi Usmani ....................................................................................................... 165 Usmani’s Critique of the Judiciary: The Reality of Khul‘ in Islam ................................................ 166 Qur’ān ................................................................................................................................................... 169 Ḥadīth and the Precedent of the Rightly-Guided Caliphs ............................................................ 176 Juristic Discourse (fiqh) ..................................................................................................................... 177 Usmani’s Intervention ...................................................................................................................... 181 The Moral Dilemma and the Role of the ‘Ulamā’: Critiquing Usmani ......................................... 183 Charting Another Path: The Opinion of the Ahl-i Ḥadīth .............................................................. 187 3 Early Opinions .................................................................................................................................... 188 Contemporary Opinions .................................................................................................................... 190 Middle Voices within the Ḥanafī Tradition ..................................................................................