At least repeating three times “you’re divorced” in the face of women is a bit more “intimate,” but this? “SMS divorces spur call for family law,” by Rebecca Torr, for Gulf Daily News, July 29:
BAHRAIN could soon follow a growing regional trend of Muslim men divorcing their wives by text message, if a family law is not implemented soon, women’s rights groups warned yesterday.
[…]A Sharia Court in Malaysia recently ruled that a Muslim man legally divorced his wife by sending her a short messaging service (SMS) saying: “If you don’t leave your parent’s house, you will be divorced“.
That’s two days straight Malaysia makes it to the news regarding sharia.
In another case, an Egyptian woman is seeking clarification from a court on whether her husband’s declaration of divorce via text message was legally valid.
There were also several accounts of husbands who had declared divorce to their wives by text message only to take them back after regretting their decision in Saudi Arabia.
Ms Al Rabea said she was appalled that husbands were being allowed to divorce their wives just by sending them a text message.
She said it was wrong that men could legally divorce their wives in such a spontaneous and an inhumane way.
[…]Ms Al Rabea said according to Islam, if a husband wanted to divorce his wife, he must say she is divorced three times and it should be in front of a witness. He should then confirm it again in court.
[…]MP Adel Al Mo’awda said the procedure for getting married and divorce was very simple in Sharia.
[…]Mr Al Mo’awda said to divorce his wife, a husband only had to say she was divorced, then there was a period of three months when they could get back together. During this time they should reside in the same house.
This could happen a second and third time, but if they did not get back together after the third time, then they were legally divorced, he added.
Actually, according to Koran 2:230, the irrevocably divorced couple can still remarry — provided the woman first “marries” another man, and he divorces her.
Mr Al Mo’awda said unfortunately when it came to divorce, many husbands were not following Sharia law and if they did, then 70 per cent of those seeking a divorce would remain married.