Ila (الإيلاء): Another Islamic ruling to oppress the woman in matters of divorce

In the time of ignorance of pre-Islamic Arabia, there was a practice which was known as "Ila (الإيلاء)", through which men used to punish and blackmail their wives.

Ila is an oath whereby the husband vows to refrain from sexual relations with his wife for at least four months. If he fulfils his oath, the marriage is dissolved; if he breaks it, the marriage continues.

Ila was practically a license in the hands of husbands, in order to blackmail their wives so that they accept their demands. A woman was only like a toy, and she had no right to make a choice for herself, but she was totally dependent upon the wish of her husband about her own future. 

Since no divine Allah is present above in the heavens, and Muhammad was making the revelations himself, and since Muhammad himself belonged to that same Arab culture of the time of ignorance, therefore, he also killed justice and made Ila a part of Islamic Sharia law too. 

Quran 2:226-227:

Those who swear to keep away from their wives (with intent of divorcing them) have four months of grace; then if they reconcile (during this period), surely God is forgiving and kind. And if they decide on divorce - then indeed, Allah is Hearing and Knowing

Islamic Sharia is oppressing a woman in the following ways through Ila:

• The wife is in solitary confinement like situation, and she is compelled to stay in the house of her husband for 4 months without any love or attention. 
• A husband can punish the wife by keeping her uncertain about her future for 4 months. She does not know what happens to her after the 4 months. If his husband is going to take him as wife further or kick her out of the house after 4 months. 
• Ila practically served as a license for husbands to blackmail their wives and compel them to accept their demands. 
• Even if the whole mistake is of the husband, and even if the husband is an evil person and he wants to blackmail his wife through Ila and compel her to accept his demands, but a wife has no chance to defend herself from this blackmail. And no Islamic Courts are allowed to help and protect the wife against this blackmailing of husbands. 
• And if the husband divorces her after 4 months, then the poor woman will keep on facing the further hardships of 'Idah (the so-called waiting period) for 3 more months, in which she is again in a solitary confinement like situation and has to face a lot of restrictions during this period (Please read our article on ‘Iddah for details of this one-sided hardships upon the women). This means, if a husband really wants to punish his wife, then he could hang these restrictions upon her for 7 months. 

As compared to a wife, Islam gave the following facilities to the husband:

• While the wife is in solitary confinement like situation and has no right to have love and attention, but the husband himself is fully allowed to enjoy his life and make love with his other wives and rape his other slave girls. 
• Islam also gives the full right to the husband to take his wife back within 4 months and start raping her (even against her wishes, which is actually a form of rape too). This means, even if she wants her freedom from such an evil husband, but she has no right to make decisions about her own life. 
• Islam also allows a husband, if he wants to 'prolong' the sufferings of his wife as a punishment, then he could do multiple times this Ila where he rapes his wife once before the completion of 4 months, and then again swears not to touch her for the next 4 months. He only has to feed 10 poor people or fast for 3 days (as an atonement) for each Ila.

Blackmailing the wives by showing ill-treatment and aversion towards them

Please remember:

• Muslim Husbands can use these tactics (like Ila) in order to compel their wives to accept all of their demands, even if they are unjust. 
• Muhammad/Allah already practically 'abrogated' verse 4:3 of doing 'Adl (Justice)' with the wives. 
• And the new verse 4:128-129 is a license for husbands to show aversion, ill-treatment and desertion towards their wives, and thus compel them to give away their rights in name of the settlement. And the reason for this license is that men are not able to do 'Adl (justice) with them, even if they try to do it. 

(Quran 4:128-129) And if a woman fears from her husband contempt or evasion, there is no sin upon them if they make terms of settlement between them (i.e. woman agrees upon leaving some of her rights) … And you will never be able to do Justice (Arabic: تَعْدِلُوْا) between wives, even if you should strive [to do so].

For more details, please read our article: Muhammad's journey from 4 marriages to 9 marriages with the help of Revelation

Question: Why didn't divine Allah abolish the ruling of Ila?

Ila is illogical, it is oppression, and it was a practice of the time of ignorance.

But why did divine Allah follow this practice of the time of ignorance? 

And why didn't divine Allah with all his wisdom abolish the practice of Ila? 

If the Companions of Muhammad would have rebelled against Allah if he had abolished the practice of Ila? 

Muslim claim that Allah gave rights to women with 'justice', while western 'equal rights' is an evil

Muslims claim that Islam didn't give women 'equal rights' but it protected women by giving them the rights on the basis of 'justice'. 

But this Muslim claim is false. Neither their divine Allah gave women equal rights, nor rights on the bases of justice, and there is no protection for them against the oppression and blackmailing of their evil husbands. 

West used its human intellect and considered a woman as an equal human being to a man, and gave women equal rights as the men have, including the right of divorce too, so that no evil man could blackmail them. Thus, the West provided full protection to woman against any oppression and blackmailing. 

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Please don't forget the Bigger Picture: