Divorce by Khulʿ in Pakistani Courts: Expanding Women’s Rights through Reconfiguring Religious Authority

Pakistani law considers marriage a contract that can be dissolved by the death of one of the spouses, at the behest of one of them, or by mutual consent.¹ The most widely used method of ending a marriage is ṭalāq, a unilateral repudiation which does not require any justification on the part of the husband and requires a fairly simple procedure in order to be registered and therefore produce its legal effects. The husband, in addition to fulfilling certain formalities, must pay his wife the deferred dower (mahr) and provide for her maintenance for a short period, corresponding to the