Ruju’ (from the Arabic rajʿa, “to return”) is the Mohammedan legal right of recall exercised by a husband who has divorced his wife by a single or double ṭalāq, permitting him to take her back as his spouse during the ‘iddah or waiting-period without concluding a new marriage contract. In Acheh, as C. Snouck Hurgronje describes in The Achehnese, the institution of ruju’ exists in principle but is in practice little understood by the laity and rarely employed.
Position in Mohammedan Law
After a first or second ṭalāq pronounced against a given wife, the law prescribes a waiting-period (‘iddah) during which the woman may not marry another man, and during which the husband may, if he please, reconsider his decision and recall her. This privilege the man enjoys only after the first and second ṭalāq; the third ṭalāq is irrevocable. After a first or second divorce, if the husband has not made timely use of his right of ruju’, a new marriage can still be concluded between the pair by mutual consent. When, however, divorce has been pronounced three times against the same woman, this method of reunion becomes impossible, and they can only remarry if the wife has in the meantime been wedded to another man and separated again from him — a device known elsewhere in the archipelago and involving a paid intermediary.
The Achehnese Practice
In Acheh the comparative rarity of divorce as a whole means that the lay-folk are but little conversant with the rules controlling ruju’, of which only a few of the main principles are commonly understood. In Java, by contrast, most people are tolerably familiar — through experience amongst their own surroundings — both with the rules of recall and with many other similar technicalities.
There are two different ways of pronouncing the ṭalāq in Acheh. Some take three fragments of ripe betelnut (lhèè krèh pinéng masak) and hand them over one by one to the wife with the words “sangée taleuë, dua taleuë, lhèè taleuë, gata sah s’eedara dōnya akhèrahl” — “one divorce, two divorces, three divorces, thou art to me but as a sister in this world and the next.” Thereupon they give notice of the dissolution to the teungku. Recall (ruju’) is thus as a rule excluded under this method, since the threefold ṭalāq is irrevocable from the moment of pronouncement. Others, however, betake themselves to the teungku of a neighbouring gampong and charge him with the task of giving notice in writing (surat taleuë’) to “the Teungku, the Keuchi’ and elders of the gampong.” The notification is wrapped in a cover of fine cloth costing about two dollars, called lapèë surat.
The Single Talaq and Its Remedy
It occasionally happens that a man says in anger to his wife, “ka ku taleuë” (“I divorce you”), adding no further words, and afterwards repents. In such a case most Achehnese are aware that a remedy exists, since the three pieces of betelnut have not been employed; but as a rule they have to go in the first place to an ulama to ask him to explain in what that remedy consists. After enquiry, the ulama declares that in the case in question only one ṭalāq has “fallen,” and that what has been done may therefore be set aside; he adds, however, that the reconciliation should be consecrated by giving a feast to a number of devout poor (peujamèë paki), and this is generally done. The use of intermediaries (tahallul) to make reunion possible after a threefold divorce is practically non-existent in Acheh and is known only to such as have studied the kitabs or books of the law.
See Also
Source
The Achehnese, Vol. I, by Dr. C. Snouck Hurgronje, translated by A.W.S. O’Sullivan, indexed by R.J. Wilkinson. Leyden: E.J. Brill, 1906.