Divorce, Saudi style: Man splits with ‘disobedient’ wife during live broadcast

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Published time: April 28, 2012 23:09
Edited time: April 29, 2012 07:35

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Human rights, Law, Religion

Ever travelled to a nearby city on your own? In Saudi Arabia, this could be grounds for divorce. A Saudi man broke up with his wife because she “disobeyed” him by going on a business trip without his consent.

The man phoned a radio program dealing with marital problems to complain about his wife to host Sheikh Ghazi al-Shammari, a prominent Islamic scholar. The unnamed man said his wife “offended his manhood” by traveling from the Saudi port city of Jeddah to the capital Riyadh for a business conference, alone and without his approval.

Al-Shammari concluded that the man had to divorce his wife.

“Such a wife is suspicious because she insisted to travel alone to Riyadh and without ample reason,” Al-Shammari later said, as quoted by Al-Arabiya. “I did not rush with the advice because I saw that the issue was dangerous and that we should not remain silent more about it.”

The caller decided to heed the advice, and divorced his wife of ten years – during the live broadcast. Al-Shammari said the man should consider remarrying her if she repents for her actions.

For a man the procedure couldn’t be easier. All he has to do is say he is divorcing his wife three times, and just three weeks ago a Saudi man divorced his wife via SMS. He then called two of his relatives to confirm the split. A Saudi court then quickly confirmed the divorce by summoning the two relatives to affirm the husband’s intention.

Saudi women, however, are at a significant disadvantage when it comes to getting a divorce. They have to endure a tedious court process, which can drag on for months. They can opt to hasten the process by filing a Kuhla lawsuit instead, but that involves paying back dowries. The proceedings are further complicated by the fact that the husband is often unwilling to attend hearings. Judges are usually reluctant to issue rulings if the husband doesn’t pay a visit to the court, though they do have a right to issue a police order to force the husband to attend.

Saudi Arabia has one of the highest rates of divorce, with over 18,765 divorce cases recorded in 2010. This means one divorce every half an hour, local expert Awad al-Harbi estimates.

Comments (70)

Leonard Umina 01.04.2013 13:28

You forgot to dis the U.S. Democrats who want all women trained as whores from middle school on; discourage marriage; and then set up women to be dependent on the government when they get pregnant, unless they are still useful sexually or as workers, in which case they provide abortion. I'd say the Republican model of a 1950's family unit doesn't look so bad. The women's liberation movement was like everything else from the leftists: an intentional exploitation. It provided educated workers, and then left many women without families or children as they traded their "careers" for traditional family relationships.

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conor flynn (unregistered) 08.01.2013 15:38

shiria law is just away for the muslim men to feel superior over women who knew they would go to a white (Irish) or a black man if they had rights because the muslim me have small penises

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john c (unregistered) 21.06.2012 07:53

The issue of womans rights is not confined to muslim countries, though these are the worst in terms of direct legal discrimination against women,plenty of other countries are behind on this area as well, women are traded as sex slaves across the eastern block, in matholic theocracies, they are seen as baby machines, the republicans in america want stay at home moms and a model of the nuclear family which dates back to the last century.The west preaches on womens rights, but in many countries, women are not paid equaly, and have a much harder time gaining promotion.No one is perfect in this area, but the muslim guy who slags off western women should take a look in the Koran and hadiths, particularly about the bits that mention it being ok to have sex with a goat, provided the goat is slaughtered, and its ok to sell the meat to the next vilage, but not your own. Great moral tutor your holy books, hats off to the comedians who happen to have most of the worlds oil under their feet, otherwise, no one would give a damm about you all.

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