WUNRN
DUBAI - DIVORCE OF WIVES BY E-MAIL
OR SMS - LEGITIMACY DIVISIVE
By Emirates 24/7 News Staff -
July 03, 2011
Dubai recorded 555 divorce cases among its Muslim population in 2010 and 150 of them were done by e-mail of mobile phone text messages.
While
some experts consider a divorce through such means is legal, others believe it
is not legitimate or final under Islamic law on the grounds spouses could fake
such a divorce for some reasons.
Under
Islamic law, a Muslim man can divorce his wife by just saying “your are
divorced” three times but a woman cannot do the same.
“Dubai
had 555 divorce cases in 2010, including 150 divorces through electronic means
such as mobile phone texts,” the Arabic language daily 'Emarat Al Youm' said,
citing figures by the Dubai family consultative council.
It
quoted Mohammed Abdul Rahman, head of the personal affairs division at Dubai’s
courts, as saying e-divorces are legal but must be proved at court.
“The
wife files a divorce case at court after she receives the divorce message while
the court has to verify this by asking the husband,” he said.
But
the paper quoted Dubai-based lawyer Rashid Tahluk as saying divorces by e-mail
or mobile phone text should not be considered as final.
“Marriage
is usually carried out by an Islamic contract and Maazoun (authorised person)
and this means divorce should be carried out in the same way….I believe a
divorce by e-mail or mobile text is doubtful and not a real divorce.”
Tahluk
said a husband could deny that he had sent a mobile phone text divorcing his
wife, adding that the court must not base its judgment on forensic results.
“The
police laboratory can not prove that the husband himself pressed the button and
sent a divorce text to his wife…it could his wife or a second or a third wife
who sends a divorce text…e-mails also can be easily hacked and penetrated.”
The
paper quoted another lawyer as saying he believes an e-divorce is enough for a
husband to divorce his wife.
“In
case a husband sends a message to his wife saying ‘you are divorced’ then these
are clear and straight words that the man has divorced his wife…in such a case,
the divorce is done and the court should support it.”