Abstract:
Islam explicitly emphasizes the post-divorce maintenance for divorced women. Nevertheless,
the MMDA (Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act) does not have any provision to provide the post-divorce
maintenance. Consequently, the Qāḍīs face difficulties in defining the period and quantity of divorced
women’s maintenance. Therefore, the women activists in Sri Lanka under the patronage of the MWRAF
(Muslim Women Research and Action Forum) lobby for enacting the provision of post-divorce
maintenance (mutʿah) in section 97 of the MMDA to be provided to the divorced wife whether the
divorce is initiated by the husband or wife if there is no marital fault on the wife. Hence, this study aims
to analyse the demand of the women activists in Sri Lanka drawing on the secondary data such as the
Qur’an, the Hadith, the literatures of the prominent jurists and the books written by the women activists
in Sri Lanka. The findings of this study reveal that the post-divorce maintenance is a marital right of
women emphasized by the Holy texts. Accordingly, this study recommends the relevant authorities to
enact the post-divorce maintenance in the MMDA. However, the women activists’ demand “to pay the
mutʿah to wives even though the divorce was initiated by wives” is intricate as it is unviable and
contradictory to the opinions of the jurists.
