Divorce through Modern Means of Communication: An Analysis from Shariah and Legal Perspective

Abstract

Extensive use of social meda such as SMS, Whatsapp, Email, Skype, Facebook and
twitter has brought ease in life. Meanwhile, they also adversely affected certain aspects
of human life and married life is one them. The ratio of divorce has significantly
increased after the excessive reliance on these tool. Islamic law of divorce and divorce
under Muslim Family Law Ordinance 1961 (MFLO) of Pakistan has provided a certain
procedure to be followed in order to effectuate it. According to some contemporary
jurists, the divorce through these modern means of communication does not take place
but other jurists consider it to be valid from Sharia perspective on the analogy of
written divorce with certain precautions. This study is focused to analyze the status of
the divorce given through any modern means of communication from Shariah and legal
perspective. The research is designated to explore, through qualitative content analysis,
whether the divorce given through modern means of communication, for instance SMS
or Whatsapp is valid from Shariah perspective or not. Further it investigates how the
Family Laws and Courts of Pakistan are treating the divorce given through modern
means of communication and what is the status of such divorce in other Muslim
jurisdiction.