An Exploratory Literature Review of Marriage Course & Divorce in Malaysia: An Aperture to Future Studies

Abstract

"Marriage Course" or "Pre-Marriage Course" is an expression that we often hear before every bride-to-be step into the wedding gate. The marriage course is a mandatory course that must be attended by every Muslim couple before establishing a legal marriage in Malaysia. Marriage course is usually held for two days and aims to provide fruitful information to future husbands and wives before both of them enter into marriage, so that they are well-prepared later. Although this course has been made mandatory for Muslim couples in Malaysia, there are still many married couples who get divorced after sailing through the world of marriage. A few parties also blamed the marriage course provider and linked it as one of the factors of divorce among Muslim couples. Hence, studies related to the marriage course and divorce among Muslim couples are critical to be studied further in Malaysia. This study aims to explore the trend of literatures related to marriage course and divorce in Malaysia. This study is a qualitative design by nature. The researchers have collected the data via library research method and analyzed the data using content analysis technique. The result of the study proves that there are many studies that have been carried out related to marriage course and divorce among Muslim couples in Malaysia, but yet, all of these studies are more concerned about Islamic legal aspects, court procedures, psychology, counseling, fatwas as well as causes and consequences of divorce. Not many studies have been carried out related to marriage course and divorce involving quantitative research design with various demographics of respondents on a large scale which give more effective impacts and solutions at the Malaysian level.