Malaysia permits text message divorce!

[wellard]

The wonders of new technology

Getting a quickie divorce has taken on a whole new meaning in Malaysia after it was decided that a man can divorce his wife with a text message.
The government's adviser on religious affairs, the man who counsels Malaysia's Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, said as long as the message was clear and unambiguous it was valid under Islamic Sharia law.

"SMS is just another form of writing," Dr Abdul Hamid Othman was quoted by the New Straits Times daily newspaper as saying.

Although such a notification of divorce may seem astonishingly brief to some, under Islamic law men are allowed to divorce their wives simply be saying the word 'talaq' - I divorce you - three times.

Is this a good move or a bad move? would those of you who have had a divorce prefer this method?

[Reeka]

And what do women do who want to divorce their husbands? It looks like Islamic law only provides for husbands to divorce their wived and not the other way arouns. Does anyone know?

[Paladin2000]

Originally posted by Reeka: And what do women do who want to divorce their husbands? It looks like Islamic law only provides for husbands to divorce their wived and not the other way arouns. Does anyone know?

IIRC under Islamic laws, women have no right to divorce their husbands. If they wanted to do so, they would have to appeal to the Syariah Court to request for a divorce. However, if the husband do not agree to divorce, in most cases, the women's appeal will be denied; unless there is substantial proof that the husband in question is unfit to carry out his duties as a husband.

Bunch of MCPs if you ask me...

[ 07-27-2003, 02:38 PM: Message edited by: Paladin2000 ]

[Talthyr Malkaviel]

In Islam, strictly speaking, a man can divorce his wife by doing the above stated, whereas a woman has to ask her husband for one, and he must agree for it to go ahead.

This might sound sexist, but is more a technicality of the culture, it's highly irregular for a man to refuse this request, even frowned on.

[ 07-27-2003, 02:46 PM: Message edited by: Talthyr Malkaviel ]

[Reeka]

Yeah, I understand what you are saying, but it still is treating the woman as a child. I mean the man doesn't have to get her permission to get a divorce. I totally respect Moslems rights to hold to their beliefs, but I do have a problem when those beliefs are carried over into the government.

This just reafirms what I think we all know---women are not created equally in predominately Islamic countries.

[Paladin2000]

Originally posted by Talthyr Malkaviel: In Islam, strictly speaking, a man can divorce his wife by doing the above stated, whereas a woman has to ask her husband for one, and he must agree. This might sound sexist, but is more a technicality of the culture, it's highly irregular for a man to refuse this request, even frowned on.

I read an article before (can't remeber where) that there are quite a number of cases in Malaysia where the husbands have married second wives and the first wives are not being taken care of. Since many of the husbands refused to divorce their first wives, they (the first wives) are forced to go through long litigation process to request for the divroce, with a low success rate.

[Chewbacca]

http://islampeace.org/

http://islampeace.org/woman.html Woman in Islam The role of women in Islam has been misunderstood in the West because of general ignorance of the Islamic system and way of life as a whole, and because of the distortions of the media. The Muslim woman is accorded full spiritual and intellectual equality with man, and is encouraged to practice her religion and develop her intellectual faculties throughout her life. In her relations with men both are to observe modesty of behavior and dress and a strict code of morality which discourages unnecessary mixing of the sexes. Her relations with her husband should be based on mutual love and compassion. He is responsible for the maintenance of the wife and children, and she is to give him the respect due to the head of the family. She is responsible for the care of home and the children's early training. She may own her own property, run her own business and inherit in her own right. She may not be married without being consulted and is able to obtain divorce. The system of limited polygamy can be seen to have its uses which may be in the interests of women as well as men. Finally she can look forward to an old age in which she is respected and shown every care by her children and by the society as a whole. It would appear therefore that the Islamic system has achieved the right mixture of freedom and security that women seek and that is in the interest of the society as a whole. [As I mentioned at the start of this paper,] I have given the relevant quotations directly from the Qur'an and hadith since these are obviously the most authentic sources. If at different times and in different places these principles and laws have sometimes been distorted, ignored or flouted, it is not the principles and laws which are at fault, but man's selfishness which sometimes leads them to distort, ignore and flout what do not like, and turn aside from the truth. Fortunately no one has changed or can change the words of the Qur'an, and the regulations for the protection of women which were revealed in the 7th century can be easily verified by anyone in the 20th century, as we have just been doing. I believe that these laws and social regulations regarding women contain certain fundamental truths which will benefit whoever applies them. The present time of widespread rethinking of the role and rights of women is perhaps the appropriate time to look with fresh eyes at the Islamic point of view, which has contributed to the formation of stable societies in both sophisticated and underdeveloped peoples in vast areas of the world over the past fourteen centuries, which has retained the continuity of its principles, and from which the Western world may have something to learn.

[Talthyr Malkaviel]

Originally posted by Reeka: Yeah, I understand what you are saying, but it still is treating the woman as a child. I mean the man doesn't have to get her permission to get a divorce. I totally respect Moslems rights to hold to their beliefs, but I do have a problem when those beliefs are carried over into the government. This just reafirms what I think we all know---women are not created equally in predominately Islamic countries.

To be perfectly honest, I can't think of any country off the top of my head where religion isn't carried over to government.

People may harp on about separation of Church and state, but as much as I believe in that ideal, it currently isn't true.
Britain obviously used to be Catholic, then there was the reformation, but it's roots where as a Christian state, hence the majority of laws which exist nowadays have at least some of Christianity's core ethics bearing on them, from when they were first made.

[Reeka]

I appreciate the quote, Chewbaca, but something stated in priciple is vastly difference sometimes from practice. I think that is the situation here, just as it had been the situation in "Christian countries." Paul said, there is neither male nor female in God's eyes; however, we also know that women at one time could not own property or vote or any number of things. They used to argue that women should not make as much money as men because men were the "head of the family."

Or are we conceding here that men use the "veil of religion" to oppress women and keep them down? Do they think more women will buy into it if they say that "God wants it this way?"

[wellard]

What I was getting at was the slimey way to divorce someone. Imagine your at work and you get a text message. You say to your coworkers "I bet hubby as lost his keys again and needs my help" you open up the text and it reads. Hi Hun! Ive just meet this cute little redhead. I divorce thee, I divorce thee, I divorce thee. Have a good day. [img]graemlins/wow.gif[/img] Then have to tell your coworkers what the message really was!