The Law of Divorce and Dissolution of Life Partnerships in South Africa

Although Muslims first arrived in South Africa more than 350 years ago and two decades have passed since the advent of democracy, their religious marriages are currently not formally recognized in terms of the (common) law. Muslim marriages are, however, in the process of being recognized through proposed legislation in the form of a 2010 ‘code’ of Muslim personal law Islam, through its primary sources, the Qur’an and Sunna, does not prohibit divorce, but strongly discourages and disapproves of it. Where divorce is inevitable, the Qur’an repeatedly encourages spouses to depart from the marriage in a dignified and decent manner, and exhorts honorable, equitable and kind treatment of divorced women. Two key objectives of the 2010 Muslim Marriages Bill5 are therefore to regulate the termination of Muslim marriages and the consequences flowing from such termination according to these broad guidelines. However, although it contains a dedicated definition clause which categorically defines Islamic law as including the primary (immutable) and secondary (less immutable) sources, the Bill does not spell out the (classical) Islamic law (Shari’a) in this regard