Saudi Courts Overturn ‘Forced’ Divorce
Families do not always approve of who their loved ones choose to marry.
Five years ago, a Saudi couple was forced to get a divorce because the wife’s brothers did not approve of her husband’s lineage. But recently they were granted the right to reunite their marriage, according to Reuters.
The couple had initially married in 2003 after her father approved of the union. And before Fatima Azazz and Mansour al-Timani could marry, the bride’s family checked the lineage or background of her future husband, al-Timani.
It is custom in Islamic culture to determine if the future husband comes from a good tribe before their families join in matrimony.
When the family initially checked his background, they found that al-Timani’s lineage was from a good family. He was from the town of Jouf and belonged to the Shammar Tribe.
The marriage was allowed to proceed, but things changed shortly after Azazz’s father passed away. Her half brothers said they no longer approved of her husband’s lineage and wanted the marriage annulled.
Reuters reported that in 2006 her half brothers claimed al-Timani lied to the family about this lineage and that his lineage was beneath their family.
They petitioned a court in Jouf, Saudi Arabia, to annul the marriage on grounds of tribal incompatibility.
The court ruled in their favor and forced al-Timani and Azazz to separate.
After the divorce, they could no longer live together. Azazz went to live in a state run orphanage in Dammam where she gave birth to their second child, and al-Timani lived in an apartment with their 6 year old daughter.
Al-Timani stated that the courts never asked their side of the story and that he never lied to the half-brothers about his lineage.
Al-Timani also said that his wife’s brothers petitioned for the divorce because of a financial dispute over money after their father died.
Ahmad K al-Sudairi, the couple’s attorney, prepared a 20 page document to present King Abdullah in hopes to reverse the ruling. The King in turn had the cessation court review the divorce case.
The court ruled that the couple could be reunited, but that it could take awhile before the ruling takes effect.
