ENACTMENT 3 ISLAMIC FAMILY LAW (STATE OF PENANG)
ENACTMENT 2004
PART V - DISSOLUTION OF MARRIAGE
Section 53. Order for dissolution of marriage or fasakh.
(1) A woman or man, as the case may be, married in accordance with Hukum Syarak shall be entitled to obtain an order for the dissolution of marriage or fasakh on any one or more of the following grounds, namely—
(a) that the whereabouts of the husband or wife have not been known for a period of more than one year;
(b) that the husband has neglected or failed to provide for her maintenance for a period of three months;
(c) that the husband or wife has been sentenced to imprisonment for a period of three years or more;
(d) that the husband or wife has failed to perform, without reasonable cause, his marital obligations (nafkah batin) for a period of one year;
(e) that the husband was impotent at the time of marriage and remains so and she was not aware at the time of the marriage that he was impotent;
(f) that the husband or wife has been insane for a period of two years or is suffering from leprosy or vitiligo or is suffering from a venereal disease in a communicable form;
(g) that she, having been given in marriage by her wali Mujbir before she attained the age of baligh repudiated the marriage before attaining the age of eighteen years, the marriage not having been consummated;
(h) that the husband or wife treats her or him with cruelty, that is to say, inter alia—
(i) habitually assaults her or him or makes her or his life miserable by cruelty or conduct;
(ii) associates with women or men of evil repute or leads what, according to Hukum Syarak, is an infamous life;
(iii) forces the wife to lead an immoral life;
(iv) disposes of her or his property or prevents her or him from exercising her or his legal rights over it;
(v) obstructs her or him in the observance of her religious obligations or practice; or
(vi) if he has more wives than one, does not treat her equitably in accordance with the requirements of Hukum Syarak;
(i) that even after the lapse of four months the marriage has still not been consummated owing to the wilful refusal of the husband or wife to consummate it;
(j) that she did not consent to the marriage or her consent was not valid, whether in consequence of duress, mistake, unsoundness of mind, or any other circumstance recognized by Hukum Syarak;
(k) that at the time of the marriage she, though capable of giving a valid consent, was whether continuously or intermittently, a mentally disordered person within the meaning of the Mental Disorders Ordinance 1952 [Ordinance 31/52], or the mental disorder was of such a kind or to such an extent as to render her unfit for marriage; or
(l) any other ground that is recognised as valid for dissolution of marriages or fasakh under Hukum Syarak.
(2) Any person married in accordance with Hukum Syarak shall be entitled to obtain an order for the dissolution of marriage or fasakh on the ground that the wife is incapacitated which prevents sexual intercourse.
(3) No order shall be made on the ground in paragraph (1)(c) until the sentence has become final and the husband or wife has already served one year of the sentence.
(4) Before making an order on the ground in paragraph (1)(e) the Court shall, on application by the husband, make an order requiring the husband to satisfy the Court within a period of one year from the date of the order that he has ceased to be impotent, and if the husband so satisfies the Court within that period, no order shall be made on that ground.
(5) No order shall be made on any of the grounds in subsection (1) if the husband satisfies the Court that the wife, with knowledge that it was open to her to have the marriage repudiated, so conducted herself in relation to the husband as to lead the husband reasonably to believe that she would not seek to do so, and that it would be unjust to the husband to make the order.