Q: What are the procedures and legal grounds for annulment of a marriage?
A: THE PROCEDURE AND GROUNDS FOR ANNULMENT
Your question refers. The following are valid grounds for annulment
1) Physical Abuse
2) Sexual abuse
3) Extreme and continuous verbal abuse
4) Failure to maintain the wife
5) Desertion of the husband for a period of more than one year
6) Failure of husband to fulfill conjugal rights
7) Imprisonment of husband for a prolonged period of time
8) Refusal of husband to give divorce when any of the above arises
9) Refusal or failure of the husband to rectify the above wrongs after being given ample chance to do so.
The Procedure for annulment will be:
a) Determining and proving the existence of valid grounds.
b) Application from the wife for annulment
c) Informing the husband and asking him to address the matter
d) Giving the husband three separate warnings or notifications
e) Upon failure of the husband to make right the wrongs, he will be asked to issue talaq
f) Upon refusal to do so the panel of at least three Ulema will set a date for the annulment
g) On the agreed date the couple will be summoned and the panel will issue an annulment
h) If either of the parties are not present, but they were duly informed, then too, the annulment will be granted.
i) If the husband makes right the wrongs and injustices, then annulment will be withheld
And Allah Ta’ala knows best
Mufti Siraj Desai