Separation is a situation where a husband and wife stay away from each other for a given period either because they have agreed or this is known as a separation by agreement or because the court has ordered the separation known as judicial separation.

• Separation only suspends certain rights of husband and wife but does not end the marriage.
• The husband and wife are still considered to be married and during the time of separation, none of them can marry another person.
• Separation cannot go beyond two years.

• Divorce ends the marriage and all rights and privileges that accrue to married people.
• The court may make orders relating to the division of property and payment of alimony or maintenance of the wife
• The court may also determine which of the spouse is to remain with the children and provide for the maintenance of the children
• Under Islamic law, the wife takes the property in her room and the children remain with the father.
• Divorce means that the two parties become single again and have rights to re-marry any other person of their choice.
• The divorced people do not benefit from the estate of either of them should one of them die. The relationship is completely terminated.

The court first gives a separation order for a period of 6 months (decree nisi). This is a cooling period intended to give the couple a chance to redeem the marriage or determine that they have completely lost interest in the marriage

If the parties have failed to redeem the marriage, the court makes a final order (decree absolute). This permanently ends the marriage.