AN EXPLORATORY LITERATURE REVIEW OF MARRIAGE COURSE & DIVORCE IN MALAYSIA: AN APERTURE TO FUTURE STUDIES

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.

在每一位准新娘步入婚姻殿堂前，我们常能听闻"婚姻课程（Marriage Course）"或"婚前教育课程（Pre-Marriage Course）"这一表述。在马来西亚，婚姻课程是每对穆斯林夫妇缔结合法婚姻关系前必须修读的强制性课程。该课程通常为期两天，旨在为准夫妻双方提供富有价值的相关资讯，帮助其在步入婚姻前做好充分准备。尽管马来西亚已将该课程列为穆斯林夫妇的强制性修读课程，但仍有不少已婚夫妇在婚后走向离婚。亦有部分声音将部分穆斯林夫妇的离婚问题归咎于课程承办方，并将其列为离婚诱因之一。因此，针对马来西亚穆斯林夫妇婚姻课程与离婚问题的相关研究，在当地具备重要的深化研究意义。本研究旨在梳理马来西亚地区与婚姻课程及离婚问题相关的文献研究趋势。本研究本质上采用质性研究设计：研究人员通过文献研究法采集研究数据，并采用内容分析法对数据进行编码分析。研究结果表明，马来西亚已开展诸多针对穆斯林夫妇婚姻课程与离婚问题的相关研究，但现有研究多聚焦于伊斯兰教法相关规定、司法程序、心理学、心理咨询、法特瓦（Fatwas）以及离婚的成因与后果等维度。然而，目前鲜有研究采用量化研究设计，针对具备多样人口统计学特征的大规模受访者开展相关研究，因此难以在马来西亚层面提出更具实效的干预策略与解决方案。