Arbitration in Marital Dissolution Due to Legitimate Excuses in Islamic Jurisprudence and Syrian Law

Abstract

Islam has safeguarded all types of contracts, urging Muslims to uphold the rights of others embedded within them. It prohibits deception, fraud, and the concealment of defects in contractual agreements. Among these contracts, the marriage contract holds a distinct status. Allah Almighty forbade the pre-Islamic practices imposed upon women, such as casting a garment over her to claim her in marriage or preventing her from marrying until death so she could be inherited. Islam commands that a husband treats his wife with kindness, avoiding harm, conflict, and vulgarity. The Almighty also forbids all forms of injustice against women, including taking back the dowry given to them or failing to fulfill their rightful entitlements. Depriving a woman of her rights is described as slander and oppression. However, affection and mercy between spouses may not always endure, and harm or discord may arise, instigated by Satan. Some husbands resort to mistreatment, neglect, financial abandonment, or inflict harm through absence—whether due to travel, imprisonment, disappearance—or through verbal abuse, humiliation, neglect, and estrangement. In some cases, repulsive illnesses may occur. This raises a critical question: What should a woman do in such circumstances