Documenting divorce in a civil, non-Islamic court

 

Is it allowed for a Muslim to seek divorce through a non Muslim court? What if one takes that as the real Islamic divorce and after court issues are done, they go through the iddat period? As in the women is waiting for the end of that for her to go through her iddat. Is that permissible?.

Praise be to Allaah.

If a woman is divorced according to sharee‘ah, as
mentioned, and she wants to document that in a non-Islamic court, there is
nothing wrong with her doing that if there is no sharee‘ah court in her
country, because documenting the divorce protects her rights, prevents the
possibility of disputes in the future and enables her to marry again, as
well as other benefits. 

In a final statement issued by the second conference of the
Shar‘i Council of Fuqaha’ in America, which was held in Copenhagen, Denmark,
with the Muslim World League, 4-7 Jumaada al-Oola 1425 AH/22-25 January
2004, it says: 

If a man divorces his wife according to sharee‘ah, there is
nothing wrong with documenting it in the non-Islamic court, but if the
spouses have a dispute concerning the divorce, the Islamic centres take the
place of the sharee‘ah court if there is no sharee‘ah court, after
completing the necessary legal procedures. Resorting to man-made laws to end
the marriage from a legal point of view does not, by itself, mean that the
marriage has ended from a shar‘i point of view. End quote. 

For more information, please see the answer to question no.
127179 

And Allah knows best.