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Divorce Given In The Absence Of Witness In Violation Of Quran
In the Holy Quran Surah Al Talaq, Allah says that when you divorce and return back, appoint two witnesses. While the muftis say that there is no need to appoint witness. Is it true that divorce is valid even without witness?
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Divorce Given In The Absence Of Witness In Violation Of Quran
updated 1 month ago
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In Surah al-Talaq (65:2), Allah clearly instructs that when a divorce reaches its final stage—whether the couple decides to separate permanently or reconcile—two just witnesses should be appointed. The Qur’an presents this as part of a transparent, disciplined process, meant to protect rights, prevent denial or abuse, and avoid disputes later on. From the Qur’an’s perspective, divorce is not a private outburst or a hidden act; it is a social and legal matter that should be documented and witnessed.
However, most classical jurists held that appointing witnesses is obligatory in instruction (amr irshadi) but not a condition for validity. According to them, if a man pronounces divorce without witnesses, the divorce is still legally effective, though he has acted against Qur’anic guidance and committed a sin. Their concern was largely practical: they feared that making witnesses a condition would lead people to deny divorces and create social chaos.
Ghamidi’s position, however, is more directly rooted in the Qur’anic wording. He explains that since Allah Himself has laid down a defined procedure for divorce, including timing, waiting periods, and witnesses, then ignoring these conditions means the act does not qualify as a valid Qur’anic divorce at all. Just as a contract without required conditions is not recognized, a divorce without witnesses fails to meet the Qur’an’s own criteria.So yes, it is true that many muftis say divorce occurs even without witnesses, but that view comes from juristic reasoning, not from the explicit Qur’anic method. The Qur’an presents witnessing as part of how divorce is meant to be carried out, while fiqh later debated whether violating that method still produces legal consequences.
In this video the procedure of talaq is discussed by Javed Ahmed Ghamdi:
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