DUBAI, June 27 (IslamOnline and News Agencies)- A Dubai man divorced his wife by leaving a text message on her mobile phone, Dubai newspapers said on Tuesday.
"Why are you late?" he wrote. "You are divorced."
The divorce was registered by the courts and prompted the authorities to revise conditions for Muslim divorce in the technological age.
"Legal schools agreed the divorce is valid as the husband expressed the will to divorce and the wife received it," said Abdel Salam Darwish, of the court's family reconciliation department.
The Gulf emirate of Dubai has thus laid down conditions for Muslim divorce through a text message sent by mobile phone.
Darwish said four conditions had to be met.
"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," said Darwish.
But the pair have been reconciled and are back together, as allowed under Islamic law because the man had not repudiated his wife three times for a divorce to be final, he said.
Darwish said several cases of marital dispute had been referred to his department because of indiscreet mobile messages sent by third parties.
Muslim scholars hosted by IslamOnline have almost unanimously agreed that a husband must not violate or abuse his right to divorce. They said a man must be patient with his wife if he sees something in her that he disapproves and dislikes.
"He should recognize that he is dealing with a human being with natural imperfections, and he should balance her good qualities with her failings. The Prophet (peace be on him) said, 'let a believing man not dislike a believing woman. If something in her is displeasing to him, another trait may be pleasing," IslamOnline fatwa bank said.
And Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala says, ...And consort with them in kindness, for if you dislike them, it may be that you dislike something in which Allah has placed much good. (4:19)
