Islamic cleric, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, has said no woman should remain in an abusive, harmful or toxic marriage under Islamic law.
Gumi made this known in a message on Monday in Kaduna, where he explained that Sharia provides several lawful avenues for women to exit harmful marriages.
He said Islamic teachings also promise relief and better provision for couples who separate righteously when reconciliation becomes impossible.
The cleric identified mutual-consent divorce, khul‘, judicial annulment, delegated divorce and arbitration as some of the lawful options available to women.
He explained that mutual-consent divorce allows spouses to end their marriage amicably after agreeing on issues such as finances, custody and the waiting period.
According to him, khul‘ enables a woman to initiate divorce by returning her dower or offering compensation to her husband.
He said a woman could pursue khul‘ when she no longer wished to remain in the marriage but could not establish specific harm or fault.
Gumi, however, noted that judicial intervention might become necessary when a husband unreasonably refuses a legitimate request for khul‘.
He said judicial annulment, known as faskh, allows a woman to seek dissolution of the marriage without returning her dower where valid grounds exist.
He listed physical, emotional or psychological abuse, failure to provide maintenance and prolonged abandonment among grounds that could justify faskh.
Other grounds, he said, include serious illness preventing marital relations, certain defects in the marriage contract and a husband’s apostasy.
Gumi also identified delegated divorce, or talaq al-tafwid, under which a husband transfers divorce authority to his wife under specified conditions.
He explained that such conditions could include preventing a wife from pursuing lawful education or employment or taking another wife.
The cleric stressed that delegated divorce must be expressly included in the marriage contract or subsequently agreed upon by both spouses.
He said Islamic law also encourages arbitration and mediation between spouses before divorce where reconciliation remains possible.
Gumi cited Qur’an 4:35, which directs the appointment of arbitrators from both families when a breach between spouses is feared.
He said where reconciliation fails, the arbitrators could recommend dissolution, subject to formalization by the appropriate judicial authority.
The cleric, however, expressed concern over challenges facing some Sharia courts in Nigeria, including corruption, case backlogs and procedural delays.
He also cited stringent evidentiary requirements and limited legal awareness among women as factors hindering access to justice.
According to him, the challenges could leave vulnerable women trapped in abusive or untenable marriages for prolonged periods.
Gumi said some women who qualify for fault-based judicial annulment sometimes resort to khul‘ simply to secure faster release from abusive marriages.
He explained that such women could forfeit their dower despite having grounds to retain it under judicial annulment.
The cleric argued that the gap between Islamic legal principles and courtroom realities undermines the protective objectives of Sharia.
He therefore called for improved access to justice and greater awareness of the lawful options available to women facing abusive marriages.
