Preventive Legal Procedures in Maintaining the Permanence of the Islamic Marriage Contract: Malaysian Experience

Abstract

The Islamic Shari'a law has approved the establishment of marriage tie, as well as surrounded it with a set of preventive legal measures to ensure its permanence and continuity, in order to achieve the desired interest of the couple and to achieve happiness in the Muslim family. Most especially in the times that divorce has become common and rampant in the Muslim countries. This qualitative study which based on document analysis, is aimed at clarifying preventive legal procedures in maintaining the permanence of the marriage, both before and after the marriage tie, in the hope of building a family filled with love, interdependence and tranquillity. Few selected Shariah divorce cases in Malaysia are also discussed to reflect the Malaysian experience. The study found that the legal perception of preventive measures and procedures required before the marriage. These include: the basis of each spouse's choice of the other; the necessity of respecting the result of the medical examination; and taking care of the pre-marital engagement. It also found the establishing preventive legal measure after the marriage. These include: taking care of the rights of the wife, such as the dower, maintenance and housing; taking care of the rights of the husband, such as obedience, mandate of discipline, and settlement in the house and in the giving service; and taking care of the common rights of the spouses in good relation, and the right to filial enjoyment and inviolability of the marriage.