JEDDAH: A Jeddah General Court judge has dismissed a s case filed by a married woman who claimed her husband had divorced her by sending her an SMS message containing the words “You are divorced” repeated three times – “Taleq, Taleq, Taleq”. She wanted to be officially divorced by the court because she claimed living with him was haram. Islamic jurists, however, differ as to whether the divorce pronounced three times in succession is to be counted as one divorce pronouncement or three separate divorces. The majority of scholars state that if the husband pronounces the divorce of his wife three times on one occasion, it will be counted as three divorces, making the divorce instant and irrevocable. However, when summoned, the husband denied sending such a message. The judge discovered the husband's phone was not locked so the wife could have sent the message to her phone. The judge was suspicious because the wife was still living at her husband's house. The judge did not sentence the wife to any punishment because he feared this would have impact on the family. Divorcing a wife through text messages is allowed under certain conditions specified recently by the Head Judge of Jordan, said Riyadh Cassation Court judge Dr. Ibrahim Al-Khudairi. He added that “these issues must not be played with”. He said divorce rates have increased because people have started to “lose their Islamic manners”.
