Divorce by SMS

The Malaysian newspaper, New Straits Times has reported that Malaysian men can now divorce their wives by SMS. The paper was citing a religious adviser to the government, Hamid Othman as saying that divorce by SMS is in accordance with Sharia law if it was clear and unambiguous.

"SMS is just another form of writing," the daily quoted Hamid as saying, following an Islamic court decision on Thursday that ruled in favour of a man who served divorce on his wife using SMS.

Islamic law permits a man to divorce his wife by declaring "I divorce you" three times.

A couple of years ago, a woman was almost divorced by SMS in the UAE. A 26 year old woman in Dubai was sent a SMS by her husband asking why she was late, and telling her she was divorced. As the cellular network was able to show that the message had been received by the wife's cell phone, the local court annulled the marriage, although the couple are now reconciled again."

Posted to the site on 28th July 2003