ABSTRACT

The practice of ‘Nikah Halala’ is one of the most misconceived Islamic practices
necessitating cohabitation by the woman victim of irreversible talaq with another man, in the
name of marriage, so as to enable the first husband to re-marry such divorced woman. In
realism, the purpose behind the practice of Nikah Halala was to make it difficult for the
impulsive man, who pronounces talaq upon his wife, to get his wife back into marriage.
However, fairly recent incidents have come to light unveiling the physical, psychological and
financial exploitation of women in the name of Nikah Halala. Such postulation of the
practice of Nikah Halala has placed it into the category of one of the most heinous crimes
under the Indian Penal Code i.e. Rape wherein the distraught female submits her body to be
used as a plaything merely to pay for the thoughtless pronouncement of talaq by her husband.
This paper attempts to analyze the concept of Nikah Halala and the role of Halala service
providers via electronic platforms.
INTRODUCTION
Nikah means marriage and Halala means to make something lawful which is
currently unlawful. Halala Nikah is a concept under the Muslim personal law wherein a wife
upon whom ‘triple-talaq’ has been pronounced cannot re-marry her husband unless she
marries someone else, consummates the marriage and then her second husband divorces her.
In Islam, the word Nikah refers to “marriage” and halala refers to something which can be
considered “lawful”. According to the writings in Quran, a divorced woman in order to
remarry her husband has to become halal (lawful) by marrying another man, consummate the
marriage and then get divorced again. After her second divorce, she has to undergo the period
of ‘iddat’ and only after this it becomes lawful for her to remarry her husband again. This is
an age-old tradition practiced in Islam which empowers a Muslim man to divorce his wife by
revocable talaq and remarry the same woman twice. After he divorces his wife for two times
she is considered haram (unlawful) and in order for the wife to be lawful again, she has to
marry another man and have sexual intercourse with him. After ending the marriage which
can be through divorce or the death of the husband she becomes lawful and can remarry her
first husband.The practice of ‘Nikah Halala’ is one of the most misconceived Islamic
practices necessitating cohabitation by the woman victim of irreversible talaq with another
man, in the name of marriage, so as to enable the first husband to re-marry such divorced
woman. In realism, the purpose behind the practice of Nikah Halala was to make it difficult
for the impulsive man, who pronounces talaq upon his wife, to get his wife back into
marriage. Thus, the procedure stipulated for Nikah Halala must be followed without any pre-
design. However, fairly recent incidents have come to light unveiling the physical,
psychological and financial exploitation of women in the name of Nikah Halala. This is done
in the form of what is generally termed as ‘Halala-fixing’, whereby another man agrees to
marry the woman, consummate the marriage and then divorce her.1 Such postulation of the
practice of Nikah Halala has placed it into the category of one of the most heinous crimes
under the Indian Penal Code i.e. Rape wherein the distraught female submits her body to be
used as a plaything merely to pay for the thoughtless pronouncement of talaq by her husband.
The practice was introduced to safeguard the basic unit of the family whereby the husband
was to be prevented from dissolving the marital relation and breaking up the family because
of a passing passion or insignificant disputes.
The concept of Halala was introduced by Prophet Mohammad to improve the marital
relationships from those corrupt forms which existed during the pre-Islamic era.2 Under the
pre-Islamic era, the husband had an undisputed right to divorce his wife whereas the wife had
no right to divorce her husband. There was no limit to the number of times a divorce could be
given by the husband and he could also revoke the divorce.

1
Khare N, Singh R, Halala Nikah. Marriage Against the Dignity of Muslim Women? A Critical analysis in light of
the Indian Legal Scenario, Human Rights International Research Journal, 2016; 4(1).

2
The halal is that which Allah has made lawful in His Book and haram is that which He has forbidden, and that
concerning which He is silent, He has permitted as a favour to you.
ORIGINATION OF NIKAH HALALA
The word Halala does not appear in the Holy Quran. It comes from the term ‘Halal’ which
means what Allah has made lawful in His Book.3 On the other hand ‘haram’ means that
‘which He has forbidden.’ The Quran expounds that once a woman has been divorced by her
husband, she becomes ‘haram’ to him and can only become ‘Halal’ if someone else marries
her and after consummation of marriage decides to divorce her.
The Holy Quran, while elaborating the concept of Halala, reads as :
‘if a husband divorces his wife (for a third time), he cannot, after that remarry her until after
she has married another husband and he has divorced her. In that case, there is no blame on
either of them if they re-unite, provided they can keep the limits ordained by Allah. Such are
the limits ordained by Allah which He makes plain to those who know.’4

The Holy Quran has laid down certain caveat regarding the observance of Halala. The Quran
clearly says that ‘Allah curses the one who marries to make a woman Halal for her husband,
and the one for whom this is done (i.e. the first husband and the woman).’5 But if a man
without any precondition marries the divorced woman purely for the sake of making her free
to re-marry her first husband, the Halala is considered to be valid. After consummating
marriage with him and getting a divorce, the wife is free to marry her first husband again.

Islam dictates that a Muslim man has the liberty to divorce and remarry the same woman
twice. However, if he decides to dissolve the marriage for the third time, he can only remarry
the same woman if she _rst marries another man, consummates the marriage, and only if the
man dies or willingly asks for divorce, can the woman go back to her _rst husband and
remarry him.
Indian Muslim jurist Moulana Ashraf Ali Thanvi (1863-1943) explained the concept
clearly in Bahishti Zewar (a comprehensive handbook of Islamic beliefs and practices) that,
“A person pronounces a revocable (raji) talaq. He then reconciles and resumes cohabitation.
Two or four years later, under provocation he once again pronounces a revocable talaq. On
recovering from provocation, he again resumes cohabitation. Now two talaqs are over.
Hereafter, whenever he pronounces a talaq, it will be counted as the third talaq, which will
dissolve the marriage forthwith, and should a remarriage be desired by the parties necessitate
halala (inter-mediatory marriage).” After the pronouncement of talaq, the woman becomes
‘haram’ (unlawful and therefore, prohibited) for the husband.
In context of divorce, a bar was laid down in order to ensure that the man did not use it as a
tool for torturing his wife (by marrying and divorcing her as many times as he desired). It was
the rule of irrevocability. This rule was introduced to maintain strict discipline and to ensure
that marriage was not reduced to mere mockery.
It is said that this rule was established by the Prophet himself. Dr. Furqan Ahmad, a
Research Associate at the Indian Law Institute wrote in Understanding the Islamic Law of
Divorce that “the Prophet tried to put an end to [this] barbarous pre-Islamic practice” which
was “to divorce wife and take her back several times in order to ill-treat her”. The Prophet, by
the rule of irrevocability of the third pronouncement, indicated clearly that such a practice

3
Abhi Hari, Effective Adherence Of Legal Reforms For Protection Of Women At Work Place With Special
Reference To Women Working In Night Shifts In BPO Sectors; Human Rights International Research Journal :
ISSN 2320-6942 Volume 3 Issue 2 (2015), Pg 139-140.
4
Reported in Al-Hakim, classified as-sahih (sound), and quoted by al-Bazzar). (Tirmidhi, Ibn Majah). (The Lawful
and Prohibited in Islam (arb: Al halal wal haram fil Islam) by. Yusuf Al Qaradawi).
5
Priti Sharma, Nishant Pal, Transgender in India: Alimented From the Society; Human Rights International
Research Journal : ISSN 2320-6942 Volume 2 Issue 1 (2014), Pg 58-61
could not be continued indefinitely. Thus, if the husband really wished to take the wife back,
he should do so; if not, the third pronouncement after two reconciliations would operate as a
final bar.”
Many prominent Muslim people have argued that because of the fundamental right to religion
mentioned as a Basic Framework tto our Constitution,, tthis Muslim rreligious custom has
taken over the Muslim community like a ''Legalised Prostitution''..
In his ''Marriage,, Divorce and Re-Marriage ((Halala)) iin IIslam'',, Zafar Iqbal
Kalanauri elaborates this theology::'There is no concept of halala iin IIslam.. This iis
something tthat has been made by some Muslims and unfortunately is now seen as part of the
Shariah by some Muslims.. The rule of the Holy Quran is thatiif a man divorces his wife ffor
the third ttime iin one marriage contract,,tthen tthe wife cannot go back tto tthe man unless
she ((genuinely)) marries another man and tthen ((genuinely)) iis divorced by tthat man…
tthis rrule should not be dealt with by pre-planned marriage and divorce..''
NIKAH HALALA & HALALA SERVICE PROVIDERS : A CONCERN
FOR CYBER REGIME

Many incidents have been reported where Indian Muslim women are openly exploited in the
name of Nikah halala. One such incident was when in October 2016, a Muslim woman had
claimed that her husband’s friend had raped her. Her husband had lost her in a bet during
gambling and was forced to divorce her. As after the divorce she was considered to be
forbidden, her husband’s friend offered to marry her and have sexual intercourse with her in
order for her to be lawful again and remarry her husband. Apart from these incidents several
websites and social media pages have emerged which offer services to divorced women to be
able to marry their husbands again.
A number of online services are charging "divorced" Muslim women thousands of pounds to
take part in "halala" Islamic marriages, a BBC investigation has found. Women pay to marry,
have sex with and then divorce a stranger, so they can get back with their first husbands.
For example, there was a twitter page name halala Nikah which consisted of men offering
services of marrying and sleeping with a divorced woman in exchange for a fee. Women who
take up these services offered by these websites are exploited and blackmailed.
In a sting operation done by a newspaper agency,6 it was found out that maulvis (religious
scholars) are offering themselves for one night stands to divorced women for them to restore
their marriage with their husbands. They charge between Rs. 20,000 and Rs. 1.5 lakh to
participate in the practice of Nikah halala. They offer an entire package in which
they promise to marry, sleep and then divorce the women the next day. Women fall prey
easily to these services as they think it is their only option in order to save their marriage.

In 2016, a BBC reporter went undercover looking for halala services through Facebook by
claiming to be a divorced Muslim woman. She was asked to pay £2,500 by a man to marry
and sleep with her.
It is incidents like these when women are downgraded as mere objects with no rights and
voice of their own and men rape and exploit them claiming it right in the name of religion.
Taking a stand against the practices of Nikah halala, the All India Muslim Personal Law
Board (AIMPLB) said that the people misusing Nikah halala as an excuse for rape will be
punished under the rape charges. They were referring to the recent case in UP where a
woman was forced to consummate her marriage with her father in law, mahali said it is
illegal to marry the father in law under the Islamic rules.

Certain Instances to Reveal Nikah Halala Services Rendered

 Farah - not her real name - met her husband after being introduced to him by a family
friend when she was in her 20s. They had children together soon afterwards but then,
Farah says, the abuse began.
"The first time he was abusive was over money," she tells the BBC's Asian Network
and Victoria Derbyshire programme.
"He dragged me by my hair through two rooms and tried to throw me out of the
house. There would be times where he would just go crazy."
Despite the abuse, Farah hoped things would change. Her husband's behaviour

6
Indian Express news & Team
 though became increasingly erratic - leading to him "divorcing" her via text
message.
GETTY IMAGES
"I was at home with the children and he was at work. During a heated discussion
he sent me a text saying, 'talaq, talaq, talaq'."
"Triple talaq" - where a man says "talaq", or divorce, to his wife three times in a
row - is a practice which some Muslims believe ends an Islamic marriage
instantly.
It is banned in most Muslim countries but still happens, though it is impossible to
know exactly how many women are "divorced" like this in the UK.
"I had my phone on me," Farah explains, "and I just passed it over to my dad.
He was like, 'Your marriage is over, you can't go back to him.'"
Farah would have had to consummate her halala marriage
Farah says she was "absolutely distraught", but willing to return to her exhusband
because he was "the love of my life".
She says her ex-husband also regretted divorcing her.
This led Farah to seek the controversial practice known as halala, which is
accepted by a small minority of Muslims who subscribe to the concept of a triple
talaq. They believe halala is the only way a couple who have been divorced, and wish
to reconcile, can remarry.
But in some cases, women who seek halala services are at risk of being financially exploited,
blackmailed and even sexually abused.
It's a practice the vast majority of Muslims are strongly against and is attributed to individuals
misunderstanding the Islamic laws around divorce.
But an investigation by the BBC has found a number of online accounts offering halala
services, several of which are charging women thousands of pounds to take part in temporary
marriages.

 'Desperation'
One man, advertising halala services on Facebook, told an undercover BBC reporter posing
as a divorced Muslim woman that she would need to pay £2,500 and have sex with him in
order for the marriage to be "complete" - at which point he would divorce her.
The man also said he had several other men working with him, one who he
claims initially refused to issue a woman a divorce after a halala service was complete.
There is nothing to suggest the man is doing anything illegal.
The BBC contacted him after the meeting - he rejects any allegations against him, claiming
he has never carried out or been involved in a halala marriage and that the Facebook account
he created was for fun, as part of a social experiment.
In her desperation to be reunited with her husband, Farah began trying to find men who were
willing to carry out a halala marriage.
"I knew of girls who had gone behind families' backs and had it done and been
used for months," she says.
"They went to the mosque, there was apparently a designated room where they did this stuff
and the imam or whoever offers these services, slept with her and then allowed other men to
sleep with her too."
But the Islamic Sharia Council in East London, which regularly advises women on issues
around divorce, strongly condemns halala marriages.
"This is a sham marriage, it is about making money and abusing vulnerable people," says
Khola Hasan from the organisation.
"It's haram, it's forbidden. There's no stronger word I can use. There are other options, like
getting help or counselling. We would not allow anyone to go through with that. You do not
need halala, no matter what," she adds.
Farah ultimately decided against getting back with her husband - and the risks of going
through a halala marriage. But she warns there are other women out there, like her, who are
desperate for a solution.
"Unless you're in that situation where you're divorced and feeling the pain I felt, no-one's
going to understand the desperation some women feel.
"If you ask me now, in a sane state, I would never do it. I'm not going to sleep with someone
to get back with a man. But at that precise time I was desperate to get back with my ex-
partner at any means or measure."

Nikah halala is a law that requires a woman to marry and sleep with another man in order to
return to her first husband. There have been instances where the husband regrets divorcing
his wife through triple talaq and in the hope of reconciliation, hands over his divorced wife to
another man for marriage, under the condition that the latter would divorce the woman the
next day.
In modern India, nikah halala has been manipulated and misused. In October 2016, an Indian
Muslim woman claimed that her husband’s friend raped her. The husband had lost his wife to
his friend in a gambling game, and therefore had to divorce her. In order to get her back, the
husband asked his friend to sleep with the woman. The accused (husband’s friend) called it
part of the “nikah halala”, so that her divorced husband could take her back.

In the midst of this, several websites and social media pages have emerged offering halala
marriage services to women who’ve been divorced by their first husbands. For instance, a
twitter page called Halal Nikah reads,
“Assalamu’alaykum Alhmadulillah, this is a marriage service for muslims worldwide. take
an advantage of it now.” Such sites offer men who are willing to marry and sleep with the
client (in this case, a distraught and divorced woman) in exchange for a fee. Many women
who approach these services are either blackmailed or taken advantage of. Many are asked to
pay large sums of money.
In 2016, a BBC reporter went undercover, posing as a divorced Muslim woman who was
seeking a halala marriage service through . The reporter was asked to pay a sum of £2,500,
for a bogus, temporary marriage where the man on the facebook page offered to marry and
sleep with her.
In patriarchal societies, religious laws have often been lopsided, favouring men. Laws such as
triple talaq and nikah halala are not only archaic, but they are also debilitating for Muslim
women. The legality of such laws need to be challenged and subsequently, discarded.
RECENT JUDICIAL IMPLICATIONS

The Supreme Court today sought a response from the Centre on a fresh plea challenging
practices of Polygamy and 'Nikah Halala ' among Muslims, as it referred the matter to a
constitution bench that has been already asked to hear a batch of similar petitions.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y
Chandrachud considered the submissions of senior advocate Vikas Singh and lawyer Ashwini
Upadhyay that the petition be listed before a five-judge constitution bench for final
adjudication.
The apex court issued a notice to the Centre on the petition filed by one Farjana and tagged
the matter along with a batch of petitions to be heard by the constitution bench. "Petitioner is
filing this petition under Article 32 of the Constitution seeking a writ, order or direction in the
nature of mandamus to declare Polygamy and Nikah Halala, practiced in Muslim community,
illegal and unconstitutional for being violative of Articles 14, 15, 21 and 25 of the
Constitution," the plea said.
The petition further sought a declaration that extra-judicial talaq is a cruelty under Section
498A of the IPC, Nikah Halala is an offence under Section 375 of the IPC, and Polygamy is
an offence under Section 494 of the IPC, 1860.
The apex court, which on August 22 last year had banned the age-old practice of instant
'triple talaq' among Sunni Muslims, had on March 26 this year decided to refer to a larger
bench a batch of pleas challenging the constitutional validity of polygamy and 'Nikah Halala '
among Muslims.
While polygamy allows a Muslim man to have four wives, 'Nikah Halala' is a process in
which a Muslim woman, who wants to re-marry her husband after divorce, has to first marry
another person and get a divorce from the second person after the consummating the
marriage.
The pleas were referred to a larger bench by the Supreme Court after an earlier five-judge
constitutional bench, in its 2017 verdict, had kept open the issue of Polygamy and 'Nikah
Halala ', while quashing the practice of 'Triple Talaq'. It had also issued notices to the Law
and Justice Ministry, the Minority Affairs Ministry and the National Commission of Women
(NCW) at that time.
Some petitions have also challenged the practices of 'Nikah Mutah' and 'Nikah Misyar' -- two
types of temporary marriages where the duration of the relationship is specified and agreed
upon in advance.
In one of the petitions, one Sameena Begum has said that by virtue of Muslim Personal Law
and Section 494 of the Indian Penal Code (marrying again during lifetime of husband or
wife) was rendered inapplicable to Muslims and no married woman from the community has
the avenue of filing a complaint against her husband for the offence of bigamy.
Another plea was filed by one Rani Alias Sabnam who alleged that she and her three minor
kids have been thrown out of the matrimonial home after her husband re-married.
She has sought that the practices of Polygamy and 'Nikah Halala' among Muslims be declared
as unconstitutional.
A similar plea was filed by Delhi-based Nafisa Khan seeking almost same reliefs.
She has sought to declare the Dissolution of Muslim Marriages Act, 1939, as unconstitutional
and violative of Articles 14, 15, 21 and 25 (freedom of conscience and free profession,
practice and propagation of religion) of the Constitution in so far as it fails to secure for
Indian Muslim women the protection from bigamy which has been statutorily secured for
women in India belonging to other religions.
A BBC report found that Halala is common in certain Pakistani Muslim communities in the
UK. The report uncovered many instances where women were socially and sexually
exploited by local religious figures.
Petitions have been filed by many Muslim women in Indian Supreme Court against Nikah
Halala. In March 2018, the Supreme Court issued notice to the Indian government on the
issue of nikah halala and polygamy.
The BJP ruled government is in favor of criminalizing Nikah Halala as the government
believes that the practice is against the principles of gender justice, and made its stand clear
in the apex court on the issue. The Muslim women rights organizations welcomed the attitude
of the Government and stated these initiatives should have been taken much earlier.
CONCLUSION
Laws such as triple Talaq and Nikah Halala are not only archaic, but they are also oppressive
for the Muslim women. The legality of such laws need to be challenged and subsequently,,
discarded.Islam, one of the greatest of world religions through the 1500 years of existence,
has been by far the most misunderstood and misrepresented. The reason for this does not lie
outside but it is only due to sheer ignorance of its own followers.7 Extensively, due to the
non-codification of the Muslim laws, the practice of Nikah Halala has also been widely
misinterpreted. So much so that Muslim divorced women are increasingly exploited and
forced to get into a one-night stand with strangers so as to legitimize their remarriage with
their first husband.
The traumatic stitch of Halala8 is the obnoxious corollary of triple talaq which has already
been declared unconstitutional (being violative of the fundamental right guaranteed under
Article 14 of the Constitution) by the Supreme Court of India in Shayara Bano v. Union of
India.9 After winning a hard-fought battle against instant triple talaq, the Bhartiya Muslim
Mahila Andolan10 is ready with its draft of ‘Muslim Family Law, 2017’, which, if debated
and enacted by the parliament, would bring an end to acts of polygamy and Nikah Halala,
too.11 Appropriately, a codified law imposing a ban on this practice can remarkably leash out
the despondency faced by women in the name of Nikah Halala.
Regarding the need for law to be flexible so as to adapt to the changing needs of the society,
it has been fairly commentated:
‘If the law fails to respond to the needs of changing society, then either it will stifle the
growth of the society and choke its progress or if the society is vigorous enough, it will cast
away the law which stands in the way of its growth. Law must therefore constantly be on the
move adapting itself to the fast changing society and not lag behind.’12
On the Uniform Civil Code (UCC), the Law Commission has made a significant observation,
insisting that it is neither necessary nor desirable to have one set of laws applicable to all
citizens of the country. Instead, it has recommended religion-wise amendments in Hindu,
Muslim and Christian personal laws to end discrimination against women within the
communities and make civil laws gender neutral.13

7
Samreen Hussain, Triple Talaq: A Socio-Legal Analysis, ILI Law Review, 2010; 1(1):130.

8
A. Faizur Rahman, ‘Muslim Personal Law in the Present Context’, the Hindu Centre for Politics and Public
Policy.

9
AIR 2017 SCC 4352
10
Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Aandolan (BMMA) is an autonomous, secular, rights-based mass organization led
by Muslim women which fights for the citizenship rights of the Muslims in India. BMMA was formed in
January, 2007, available at https://bmmaindia.com/about/, 2017.

11
Available at http://www.news18.com/news/india/no-polygamy-nikah-halala-in-mahila-andolans-proposed
muslim-family-law-1513985.html, 2017.

12
Amita Singh, Nasir Aslam Zahid, Strengthening Governance through Access to Justice, Prentice Hall India
Learning Private Limited, 2008, 73.

13
Consultation paper on ‘Reform of Family Law’ by the Law Commission.