Divorce cases in Jeddah have assumed an alarming rate with 12,192 divorces taking place between February 2005 and January 2006, according to a report released by the Jeddah High Court.

The report noted that the rise of divorce figures in Jeddah was 60 per cent, followed by 39 per cent in Riyadh in the same period, 20 per cent in Ahsa and 18 per cent in the Eastern Province. The report showed that in 799 cases women demanded unilateral divorce from their husbands while 354 involved custody disputes and 196 involved seeking visitation rights.

Other cases included 578 demanding financial compensation and 141 complaints against the lack of dowry payment or reimbursement.

Aed Maqbool Al-Qarni of the Religious Affairs Department at the Ministry of Defence and Aviation said that the increasing number of divorce cases in the Kingdom was largely due to ignoring religious instructions while choosing a spouse. He added that people often do not adhere to the religious rules, such as requiring the consent of the daughter if the family wants to arrange a marriage.

A recent study conducted by Um Al Qura University in the holy city of Makkah said that educated couples in Saudi Arabia are more likely to get divorced or have marital problems. But a cross-section of the people believe differently.

Their views range from confidence in the educated couples to be well-equipped and prepared to have better married lives and capacity to overcome marital tensions and difficulties, to disagreeing with the findings of the study.

According to sociologist Wafaa Al Saadi, people have their own mind and when they get married, they may not develop a shared mindset on many matters. “That creates quarrels in their daily life, which can lead to divorce,” Al Saadi said.

Dr Mohammad Jaber Nader, an attorney disagreed both with the sociologist and the study, maintaining that better education made for better marriages. Nader said that he thought that there was an inverse relationship that blends education and divorce.

 

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