The ashan talak consists of a single pronouncement of divorce made in a period of tuhr (purity, i.e., the period between mensturations), or, at any time, if the wife is free from mensturation, followed by abstinence from sexual intercourse during the period of iddat.
The requirement that pronouncement of talak should be made during a period of tuhr applies only to oral divorce; it does not apply to talak in writing. Similarly, this requirement is not applicable when the wife has passed the age of menstruation, or the parties have been away from each other for a long time, or, when marriage has not been consummated.
Image Source: twc.timberlakepublishing.com
ADVERTISEMENTS:
The advantage of this form is that divorce can be revoked at any time before the completion of the period of idda; that hasty, thoughtless, divorces can be prevented. The revocation may be effected expressly or impliedly.
Thus, if before the completion of the period of idda, the husband resumes cohabitation with his wife, or when he says to her, “I have retained thee”, the divorce is revoked. Resumption of sexual intercourse before the completion of idda also results in the revocation of divorce. It is this aspect of ahsan talak, viz., its revocability, which makes it the most proper divorce.
The Radd-ul-muhtar puts it thus: “it is proper and right to observe this form, for human nature is apt to be misled, and to lead astray the mind far to perceive faults which may not exist and to commit mistakes for which one is certain to feel ashamed afterwards”. In this form, the parties are free to remarry subsequently at any time.