Types of Divorce in UAE, Islamic Law and the Personal Status Code

The husband pronounces divorce once or twice in a marriage where intercourse or valid seclusion took place. During the waiting period (iddah: three periods of purity, or three lunar months for a woman who does not menstruate), he retains the right to take his wife back without a new contract or the wife’s consent.

• The marriage contract continues until the iddah expires
• Husband can take her back by an explicit spoken or written statement, or by action
• If iddah ends without a take back, it converts to Minor Irrevocable Divorce
• Wife is entitled to maintenance and to live in the marital home throughout the iddah

A revocable divorce whose iddah expired without the husband taking his wife back, a divorce before intercourse or valid seclusion, or a divorce obtained through khul'a (wife-initiated). The parties may remarry with a new marriage contract and new mahr.

• Requires a new marriage contract and mahr to remarry
• Covers the first and second pronouncements after iddah ends
• Includes divorce before intercourse or valid seclusion (no iddah in this case, and half the named dowry)
• Includes khul'a (the wife gives a consideration, often the mahr, in exchange for release)

The divorce that completes three. The wife is forbidden from remarrying her former husband until she has married another man in a valid marriage, that marriage has been consummated, it has ended, and her iddah from him has finished.

• Absolutely final, no revocation or remarriage without intervening marriage
• A pre-arranged 'tahlil' marriage made only to permit remarriage is widely condemned by Islamic scholars
• Three pronouncements in a single sitting count as ONE under Article 57
• Deferred mahr falls due and she may live in the marital home during the iddah; iddah maintenance is due only if she is pregnant, until birth

A wife may request a divorce in exchange for a consideration, most often the mahr (dower). If the husband stubbornly refuses, the Personal Status Court can order the khul'a for an appropriate consideration.

• The consideration can be any property; where it is the mahr, returning what she received is enough and the rest is dropped
• Court-ordered khul'a is available if the husband stubbornly refuses
• Counts as Ba'in Sughra, new contract required to remarry
• The normal iddah rules apply; there is no iddah maintenance after khul'a, but she may live in the marital home during the iddah

A judge dissolves the marriage on application when specific legal grounds are met: harm, desertion, failure to provide maintenance, absence or imprisonment, addiction, or a serious defect or disease.

• Wife can petition on grounds of harm, desertion, non-maintenance, absence, imprisonment or addiction
• Either spouse can ask for revocation for a serious defect or disease (Article 69)
• Court investigates the claim before granting the separation
• Treated as Ba'in Sughra, a new contract is required to remarry

A divorce pronounced in a way that violates Islamic law, most commonly: divorce during menstruation or postnatal bleeding, or three pronouncements in a single session. It is sinful but takes legal effect under most classical and UAE law interpretations.

• Divorce during menstruation: sinful, but it is not among the cases in Article 56 where a divorce does not occur
• Three pronouncements in one session: sinful, but Article 57 treats this as a single divorce
• By contrast, a divorce does not occur at all under duress, in anger so intense it prevents control of one's words, or when insane or intoxicated (Article 56)
• If in doubt whether your divorce falls into this category, consult a UAE personal status lawyer immediately