Can a displeased woman go to a qadi and pronounce talaq?

Question

Question: If a woman does not wish to live with her husband and is displeased, can that woman give her husband talaq and marry elsewhere? For it is said that the government has now enacted a law that if a woman is displeased with her husband, she can go to the qadi and pronounce talaq. This is a new law.

Answer

A woman does not have the right of talaq; rather, this right belongs to the man. Hence a woman cannot pronounce talaq; only a man can pronounce talaq: [ar]الطَّلَاقُ لِمَنْ أَخَذَ بِالسَّاقِ[/ar] “Talaq belongs to the one who has taken hold of the leg” (hadith).

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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