In April 2009, an unmarried couple, Budiman and Wiwin (neither are their true names), were caught committing an act of intimate contact, known locally as ‘khalwat’, which is prohibited in Aceh. Leaders of a village in Lhoksukon, North Aceh, decided that the couple should be ‘punished’ by forcing them to marry. A small wedding ceremony was held two weeks later. When the solemnisation of the marriage was complete, the groom went up to a teungku and asked if he and the bride were now in a lawful marital relationship. The teungku confirmed this and said they were now husband and wife before God and the people. The groom then unexpectedly responded by pronouncing a triple divorce or talaq in a single breath: ‘Tonight in front of the public I hereby declare that I divorce my wife three times.’

Al Yasa Abubakar, a professor of Islamic law at IAIN Ar-Raniry, considered that a divorce like this was unlawful. In his view, since the couple had agreed to marry, the divorce pronounced immediately after their marriage was void. Referring to the Indonesian Marriage Law, Abubakar maintained that ‘talaq becomes valid only if the husband pronounces it at a court with full consciousness’. Given that the divorce was deemed illegal, there was certainly no need to save the marriage. This particular case turned out to be complicated as returning to the former marriage is unlawful after triple divorce, especially when the husband soon regretted his action and wished to return to his ex-wife.

However, Teungku Mandawali, chairman of the Ulama Council of the Lhoksukon sub-district, regarded this particular divorce as valid, although it dishonoured religion as well as custom. He suggested that if this couple wanted to reconcile or remarry, someone else had to act as a muhallil (an intermediary husband for the ex-wife).