In the previous article (https://kreately.in/kinds-of-marriages-in-islam-part-1-of-2/), we started a discussion on the kinds of marriages which are allowed in Islam. Let us now look at the notorious Nikah e Halala in some detail.  Islam lays great emphasis on all things Halal (permissible, allowed).  Anything which is not Halal falls into two categories which are Makrooh (non preferred, distasteful) or Haram (Must abstain from).  Haram acts are considered shirk which is basically defying the code of Islam, and gaining wrath of Allah and his followers. The word Halala has its roots in Halal and therefore once can imagine how important the act of carrying out Halala is.  Islam shuns divorces, has laid grounds for avoiding divorces in Quran which include buying the affection of your wife through money (Mehr Muwajjal – part of mehr which must be given before the first act of sex is carried out with the wife), distributing your high libido among more than one wives, allowing sex with non wedded partners via slaves, Nikah e Muttah, Nikah e Misyar, and love Jihad to mention a few.  Then there is also permission to discipline the wife through acts like reprimanding verbally, stopping her sexual ‘privileges’, and finally beating her up if she doesn’t fall in line. But as Allah know, man is a creature of anger, and if in this state he does commit the act of divorcing her because she is daring to have an opinion, then also thee is a way to reconcile, through Nikah Halala. This simply translates into getting your wife to marry someone else, and then remarrying her after the marriage is consummated and the new husband divorces her.  One might wonder, if this is the procedure for the ex wife to become ‘halal’for her husband before he re marries her, what is the procedure for the husband to become Halal? Does he also have to become the toy of a heavily tattooed, jailed for 15 years on charges of assault with a deadly weapon and sodomising minor boys for example? The answer to that is simple.  A woman becomes the ‘land to till’for a man as soon as she is in his Nikah. The man goes through tremendous mental anguish when he has to allow his ‘tilling land’be ploughed by another man.  He lives through this nightmare for all of those days and nights until his farming land is back with him to sew his seeds into, and this mental anguish, this huge bruise to his ego is enough penance for him to become Halal for his wife again.

This Nikah Halala can be with any random or known person with the sole purpose of the original couple getting back together after the second ‘husband’ has divorced the ‘wife’. There are numerous cases where the woman has to ‘marry’her husband’s brother or even father for short period of time to keep it in the family and save money. Alternatively, there are many willing Imams and Molvis who are ready to carry out Nikah Halala for a fee ranging from 15,000 to 30,000. One can come across masjids and private Halala services being advertised on social media at times.

As life goes, the best laid plans can sometimes backfire in your face.  Similarly, Nikah Halala can also become a more ‘permanent’feature in the life of the woman if Allah so decides.  If anyone has seen the film Nikah, they will remember how the heroine gets married to someone for Halala purpose after her husband divorces her in a fit of rage, but then kicks the husband’s behind and decides to remain with the ‘Halala’husband.  In real life, there are stories of Molvis refusing to give Talaq to a particularly hot woman after sleeping with her a few times, or even the younger brother demanding that in future too, he share his Bhabi with his brother. Additionally, there is the possibility that the woman gets pregnant while in the process of Nikah Halala and then the child will always live not knowing who the real father is. Such are the complexities associated with the world’s most simple religion.

DISCLAIMER: The author is solely responsible for the views expressed in this article. The author carries the responsibility for citing and/or licensing of images utilized within the text.