Khula

Wife-initiated divorce in Islamic law. The wife requests dissolution of the marriage and typically returns the mahr (or a portion of it) to the husband as compensation.

Khula is grounded in Quran 2:229 and the precedent of Habiba bint Sahl. In the United States, khula procedures can be codified inside an Islamic prenup so a state court can enforce them as ordinary contract terms - for example, by setting out dispute resolution by Islamic arbitration with a binding award the civil court will adopt.

Khula is wife-initiated divorce by mutual release: she returns the mahr (or other agreed compensation) and the marriage ends - the Islamic remedy for a woman who wants out of a marriage her husband won't dissolve. Its foundation is explicit prophetic precedent: the wife of Thabit ibn Qays told the Prophet she found no fault in his character or religion 'but I fear ingratitude in Islam'; he directed her to return Thabit's garden and directed Thabit to accept and release her (Bukhari).

Classical mechanics: khula requires the wife's offer of compensation (typically capped at the mahr received - the Prophet did not permit taking back more), effects an irrevocable separation (the husband cannot unilaterally resume the marriage during iddah), and triggers a shortened iddah of one menstrual cycle in the strongest hadith-based view. Financial consequences flow from the release: she forfeits the deferred mahr and returns what was paid, while keeping her own property and any support arrears owed to date; his ongoing nafaqah obligation ends with the iddah.

The American overlay is important: khula settles the religious dissolution, but only a state-court divorce ends the civil marriage and adjudicates property division, custody, and support under state law - and state courts apply equitable-distribution or community-property rules regardless of the khula bargain. Couples negotiating khula in the U.S. typically coordinate both tracks: a religious settlement through the community or an imam, and a civil settlement agreement embodying the same terms so the state judgment matches the Islamic one.