My nikah was annulled (made faskh) by the Muslim Judicial Council (MJC) of Cape Town. The procedure adopted for this faskh was as follows: * The first meeting with me was conducted in the presence of my wife and the presiding Imaam of the MJC. * Both parties were requested to come back to the MJC for counseling. * I thereafter tried to make contact with the MJC, but to no avail. My wife subsequently received a letter from the MJC stating that the faskh was granted. I made several attempts to contact the Imaam with no success. I tried the MJC’s of-fice, the Imaam’s home and various cell num-bers, but the Imaam was never available. What is the Shariah’s ruling with regard to the faskh issued by the MJC?
If the procedure explained by you was the way adopted by the MJC, then the faskh is not valid. Your wife remains in your nikah. She is not in iddat and cannot marry anyone as long as you do not issue Talaaq or the faskh is properly issued in accordanc, v ‘_th the Shariah. The letter of annulment which your wife has is a worthless piece of paper. The Shariah has an elaborate, responsible and a just system for annulment of Nikah. Nowadays, the issue of Faskh is handled in some quarters as if it is a joke. A few tears shed by the complaining woman on the shoulder of the ‘faslch’ committee are sufficient for the acquisition of an invalid annulment ticket. Many women have been cast into lives of zina in this manner. While they remain in the nikah of their husbands, they ‘many’ other men.