An Egyptian woman is seeking confirmation from a court as to whether a divorce send via SMS is actually valid. Under Islamic Sharia Law, it is possible for a man to divorce his wife by declaring the fact three times.
After missing a call from her husband on her mobile phone, local newspaper, Al-Akhbar reported that Iqbal Abul Nasr received a text message from him saying "I divorce you because you didn't answer your husband".
Following this message, which was the third that she had received from her husband, Abul Nasr has now applied to the family court to verify the decision.
There have been attempts to divorce by SMS, although the only one we are aware of which was successful was in 2001 in the UAE.
Just over a year ago, Malaysia's Islamic Court fined a local politician US$145 for attempting to divorce his wife via SMS. Senator Kamaruddin Ambok had used the SMS to divorce his wife - but was given a stern lecture by Judge Zainor Hassin on the sanctity of marriage. In Malaysia, the divorce statement must be uttered inside an Islamic Court, so the SMS was not accepted.
Posted to the site on 3rd January 2008
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