According to the Islamic point of view, when a man and woman sign the marriage contract (nikkah) they make a sacred commitment to each other and Allah in presence of four witnesses.
This commitment is not to be taken lightly as there is no bigger responsibility than making sure that the husband and wife are supportive of each other.
However, it is natural that sometimes the Muslim marriage does not work out quite as well as had been expected by the couple.
There are many reasons why a marriage fails such as infidelity, lack of understanding, abusive spouse, problematic in-laws, etc.
Under such circumstances, the wife or husband has no choice other than filing for a divorce.
Although divorce is allowed in Islam, yet it is not to be taken lightly and a person should not go for a divorce given the slightest excuse.
According to a Hadith, the Prophet PBUH claimed that divorce is the most disliked acts for Allah.
Hence it is stressed that every Muslim man and woman who signs the marital contract should try his/her best to make sure that the marriage works.
Since every married couple has their fair share of problems, the divorce rate would go very high if everybody sought a divorce as a way out of problems.
Allah and his Prophet PBUH have put great emphasis on loving and tolerating the short comings of one's life partner so that there are lesser matrimonial problems.
However, if there are irreconcilable differences in a couple, Islam recognizes the right of both the husband and wife to get a divorce.
The husband has to give the amount of money, property or gold that had been promised at the time of signing the marriage contract, also known as Mehr.
This amount is a safety net for women as they need some financial stability in order to get a fresh start to their life.
If the husband is not unhappy with his Muslim marriage but the wife feels it incumbent to get a divorce, she can initiate the divorce which is known as Khula.
If the wife is pregnant, the husband has to wait till delivery before the divorce becomes valid.
Till that time it is the responsibility of the husband to financially support his wife.
As far as gifts and other shared assets are concerned, Islam leaves it to the couple to decide what they want to divide.
All these specifications are designed to make sure that the divorce process goes smoothly and there are no fights and disagreements among the couple.