Saudi Arabia: Woman awarded divorce over husband’s tilt to co-wife

Cairo: A Saudi court has awarded a woman, married 35 years ago, a final divorce ruling because her husband has been found to be preoccupied with his second wife, a local newspaper said.

The Personal Status Appeals Court in the Saudi port city of Jeddah has upheld an earlier ruling annulling the marriage contract of a 55-year-old woman who had filed for divorce, citing her husband’s preoccupation with the co-wife, Okaz said.

The verdict was issued at the end of an online session during which the claimant said she had five children during their 35-year marriage and that her her husband left their house after he wed a Moroccan woman five years ago and came to see them for a “few hours” every year.

In Islam, which permits marrying up to four wives, if a man cannot deal justly with all his wives, then he must marry one only.

The stipulation is clearly stated in the Holy Quran’s 4th Chapter An-Nisaa (Women): “If you fear that you shall not be able to deal justly with the orphans, marry women of your choice, two or three or four; but if you fear that you shall not be able to deal justly (with them), then only one.”