Muslim clerics in Kuwait divided on divorce by Internet, mobile message
Muslim clerics in Kuwait are divided over whether a man can divorce his wife by sending a message over the Internet or by mobile phone, a newspaper reported Saturday, July 14.
Moderate cleric Khaled Al-Mathkour, chairman of Kuwaits higher committee for implementation of Islamic Sharia laws, told Al-Watan that a simple text message on the mobile phone was enough.
It was as valid as a husband divorcing his wife in a face-to-face encounter, under Sharia laws allowing a man to divorce by repeating the phrase "I divorce you" three times, he said.
He said the wife must check that the message was not sent as a prank by a third party. But if it was a "joke" sent by the husband, the divorce still stands, said Mathkour.
The same guidelines applied if the wife received a message by e-mail.
But a prominent Shiite cleric, who was not named, told the paper that a so-called "remote divorce" was invalid since it lacked an essential condition under Islamic laws: the presence of two witnesses.
Women's groups in Kuwait have condemned remote divorce as degrading to women.
In Kuala Lumpur, a senior official ruled last week that Malaysian men can not divorce through mobile messages.
Sending a divorce message through a mobile phone was "an irresponsible act, dangerous and should not be tolerated", said Hamid Othman, religious adviser to the prime minister, while acknowledging it was acceptable under Islamic law.
The Gulf emirate of Dubai has laid down conditions for Muslim divorce through a text message sent by mobile phone.
"The husband should be the sender, the second is that he should have the desire to divorce, the third that the phrasing should be unmistakable, and finally the wife should receive it," according to Dubai courts.
Last year, a test case for Islamic laws on marriage petered out as a Muslim couple opted to go for an ordinary divorce in an Emirati court. A Dubai judge pointed to identification problems and said judicial amendments were needed. — (AFP, Kuwait City)
© Agence France Presse 2001
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
