Salam, My husband and i were seperated in the year 2001 and he left to Uk in 2004. I got the divorce through kahdhi court in 2004 while he was in Uk. Summons were sent to his home in sri lanka but they say they never got them. Later i told him about the divorce. We have only communicated through over the phone regarding our son. My question is am i divorced in islamic way? I am ready to start a new life but i have doubts about the divorce.

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.

If it is the Sharee’ah court that ruled this divorce, then we have nothing to say about it as we do not know the reasoning on which the court based its ruling. Anyway, we believe that a just judge rules according to what is in conformity with the Sharee’ah [Islamic Law].

Indeed, the scholars stated that if a knowledgeable just judge issues a ruling in a case, then his ruling is not overruled unless there is a sound Sharee’ah-based reason for that, like contradicting a verse in the Book of Allaah, or an authentic Hadeeth in the Sunnah of the Prophet or a consensus of the scholars, or a considerable analogy. For more benefit, please refer to Fatwa 89707.

In any case, if you have any doubt about this divorce, then since it is a Sharee’ah court that gave it, you may consult that court to inquire more about the case.

On the other hand, the divorce issued by the judge is a minor irrevocable divorce, and the husband cannot take back his wife except with a new contract. This is of course if this divorce is not the third divorce, as in this case, the wife becomes irrevocably divorced from her husband with major separation and she is not lawful to him again unless she marries another man [who consummates the marriage with her and then he divorces her or dies]. For more benefit on the kinds of divorce, please refer to Fatwa 82541.

Allaah Knows best.