What is a ‘Khula’?

Published on: November 15, 2018

The Answer;

In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.

‘Khula’ is the ending of the marriage (Nikah) whereby the husband consents to the request of the wife to release her from the marriage contract in return for the dowry or some other remuneration to be given to the husband. A Khula once issued, counts as one irrevocable divorce (Talaq Ba’in).

Khula comes from the Arabic kh-la-`a which is used in Arabic for taking off clothes normally. The reason the Sharia has used this word for this kind of Talaq is because the Holy Qur’an has referred to the intimate and close nature of the relationship between the husband and wife by referring to each one as being clothes of the other partner:

هُنَّ لِبَاسٌ لَّكُمْ وَأَنْتُمْ لِبَاسٌ لَّهُنّ

“Your wives are garments for you and you are garments for them.”

By using Khula to end the Nikah one is removing this garment from oneself. Some people today have seriously misunderstood the concept of Khula and think a Muslim judge or a Sharia council can issue a Khula without the consent of the husband; this will not be Khula, according to Islam.

The following are some of the texts of the classical Muslim jurists on Khula:

Hanafi School

The great Hanafi jurist Imam Sarkhasi writes:

“Khula is permitted by the ruler and other than the ruler because it is a transaction that is entirely based upon mutual agreement.” (Al-Mabsut,vol. 6 p. 173, Matbaa` al-Sa`aadah)

Maliki School

The scholar Allama Abu al-Waleed al-Baaji in his commentary on the Muwatta of Imam Malik:

“The wife will have to return to him if the husband does not want her separation through Khula or by some other way.” (Al-Muntaqaa, vol. 7 p.61, Matbaa` al-Sa`aadah)

Shafi School

The great Imam and founder of the school that goes by his name, Imam Shafi writes in Kitab al-Umm:

“…the reason is that Khula is in the ruling of Talaq. Thus no one has the right to divorce on behalf of someone else. This right is not gained by the father, the master, the guardian and not even the ruler.” (Kitab al-Umm, vol. 5 p. 200, Maktaba al-Kulliyat al-Azhariyya)

Hanbali School

The great authority in the Hanbali school Imam Ibn Qudaama states:

“For Khula is a transaction, thus the absence of the need of the ruler, just as in sale transactions (Bay`) and the marriage contract (Nikah) and because it stands for the ending of a (marriage) contract by mutual agreement. For this reason, it resembles the mutually agreed cancellation of a sale contract (Iqalaah).” (Al-Mughni, vol. 7 p. 52, Dar al-Manaar)

And Allah(swt) alone knows best.