Men divorcing wives via text message sparks outrage

TEXT FURY: Women's rights groups are calling for laws to halt Muslim men divorcing their wives by text message. (Getty Images)

Bahraini women’s rights groups are calling for new laws to halt a growing regional trend of Muslim men divorcing their wives by text message, it has emerged.

Fatima Al-Rabea, Bahrain Women's Union member, said it was wrong men could legally divorce their wives in such a spontaneous and inhumane way, Bahrain’s Gulf Daily News reported on Tuesday.

A family law should be introduced to ensure that husbands divorce their wives in an ethical manner and that they provide for them and their children, she said.

The union is preparing to submit to the government a draft for a family law by the end of July.

The draft of the law, called the Personal Status Law, aims to govern family matters and improve the situation of Bahrain's women.

It has been put together by the union, with submissions from various women's societies, the newspaper said.

A Sharia Court in Malaysia recently ruled that a Muslim man had legally divorced his wife by sending her a text message.

In another case, an Egyptian woman is seeking clarification from a court on whether her husband's declaration of divorce via text message was legally valid.

There were also several accounts of husbands who had declared divorce to their wives by text message only to take them back after regretting their decision in Saudi Arabia.

Al-Rabea said she was appalled that husbands were being allowed to divorce their wives just by sending them a text message.

Al-Rabea said, according to Islam, if a husband wanted to divorce his wife, he must say she is divorced three times and it should be in front of a witness. The husband should then confirm it in court.

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READERS' COMMENTS

Follow the Existing Law
Posted by Nafees Ahamed, Abu Dhabi, UAE on Wednesday 30 July 2008 at 10:25 UAE time

The article itself says the provision in shariah law on how the divorce is carried out. In South-Asian countries, I have not heard about this. I really don't understand what has gone wrong with with Muslim Bahraini Men. An indivudal should know to first look at the guidance by his/her own religion on matters like this, no matter whatever the religion he belongs to

Teenagers
Posted by Paul, Dubai on Tuesday 29 July 2008 at 14:49 UAE time


Isn't dumping a member of the opposite sex through a text something that 13-year-old Westerners do? Looks like Bahraini men are definitely adults...

..can I order my lunch through SMS?
Posted by kaptain, Dubai, United Arab Emirates on Tuesday 29 July 2008 at 14:05 UAE time

Can I order my lunch through SMS? Can I just acknowledge a consignment on the basis of a raw unknown SMS?

Why do we allow technology to intrude into our bedrooms? Is there any definition of enough with this? Do we have a line drawn somewhere?

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