Talaq through electronic medium under Islamic and Malaysian law: The Impact on ‘iddah and ruju’

Talaq in general refers to the dissolution of a valid marriage through pro-nouncement of divorce by the husband. In Islam, talaq is permissible, especially when-ever harm is perceived if the marriage continues or the couple fears that they cannot observe the limitation ordained by Allah swt. In Malaysia, the pronouncement of talaq is regulated in the sense that a husband should pronounce a talaq in court or otherwise he can be guilty of fine and imprisonment. Such a regulation to a certain extent con-trols the husband power and authority to pronounce talaq even though the husband’s pronouncement of talaq is still counted as effective if it took place outside the court. The rapid growth of digitalization seems to open a flood gate for more pronouncement of divorce outside the court. Various electronic means of social communication like Facebook, WhatsApp, email, Instagram, telegram, twitter etc will become the medium of divorce communication between the husband and the wife. This paper wishes to examine the position of talaq through electronic medium under Islamic law (the Sha-ri’ah) and the Islamic law as codfied in Malaysia. Examination will include the effect of such pronouncement to ‘iddah and ruju’ especially when the husband is not a knowledgeable person on the rules of Islamic law. Finally, the paper will provide rec-ommendation where necessary especially to improve the law on the pronouncement of talaq in Malaysia where the talaq is uttered through electronic mediums outside court