A Comparative Study of the Decrees of Five Islamic Denominations about Divorce When the Husband Is Missing

When a husband is missing and there is no information concerning his place, his wife is subject to some decrees, according to all of five Islamic jurisprudential denominations. One of these decrees is to grant the wife with the right for divorce petition over which there are some disagreements amongst the five Islamic jurisprudential denominations. One of these decrees agreed by most of the Imāmi, Māleki and Hanbali scholars and the writer of the article as well is to grant the wife with the right for divorce petition after waiting for four years and staying unmarried for four months and then days. In contrast to this, there is another decree agreed by Hanafi, Shāfeie and some Imāmi scholars which claims the necessity of waiting, considering it forbidden to permit the wife to divorce, justifying that such a wife is required to be waiting until her husband, s death is confirmed for certain or for a lapse of time which denies the possibility of his being alive.