Divorce via SMS

[Apex]

http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/asiapcf/southeast/07/27/offbeat.malaysian.divorce.reut/index.html


Divorce by mobile phone?

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysian (Reuters) -- Malaysian Muslim men can divorce their wives through text messages on mobile telephones, the New Straits Times daily reported on Saturday, quoting a religious adviser to the government.

Hamid Othman, adviser to Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, said divorce via SMS or short messaging service was 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 favor 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.

[hapoo]

thats pretty weird. I don't know about malaysia but divorce isn't that common in middle eastern countries (well, compared to america anyway). And you can't just get a divorce, you gotta have a legitamate reason.

[Burzhui]

Originally posted by hapoo
thats pretty weird. I don't know about malaysia but divorce isn't that common in middle eastern countries (well, compared to america anyway). And you can't just get a divorce, you gotta have a legitamate reason.

From what i know you don't need a legitimate reason, and no other country comes close to divorce rate of USA, i believe it's 50%

[Bires]

Originally posted by Burzhui
no other country comes close to divorce rate of USA, i believe it's 50%

The national divorce rate is actually decreasing, and is closer to 30% (source (http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_dira.htm))

Anyway, the reason divorce rates are lower in 2nd and 3rd world nations... often for the female, divorce=starvation

[Grafalgar]

not just that - in many countries divorce is just too culturally expensive. There's this one country (name evades me) but when you get married the husband gives x number of oxen to the wife's father. These oxen is then used to for the father's sons when they get married. Pretty soon the oxen given from the original husband has been dissimenated (sp.) to multiples of families.

When you get a divorce the original oxen needs to be brought back to the husband .. and tracing that through families, trading oxen, etc is a royal pain in the ass - which is why divorce is utterly looked down upon.

If I remember the group's name I'll post but many cultures have this same sort of system .. where divorce is too damn expensive and difficult to do due to familial ties.

[ski]

ahh, the perils of dowry (http://www.wsws.org/articles/2001/jul2001/ind-j04.shtml)... I just did quick search, so the validity of that source may not be the best, but there were lotsa other similar cases. Seems that you have reason to worry if you're a female and you're living in a country/society that uses dowry systems

[johnnymk]

Originally posted by Bires


The national divorce rate is actually decreasing, and is closer to 30% (source (http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_dira.htm))

Anyway, the reason divorce rates are lower in 2nd and 3rd world nations... often for the female, divorce=starvation

I went to the census bureau website, which reveals a divorce rate average in the past ten to twenty years averaging near 50% and a projected rate of 50%. Of course, projections are just estimates based on many factors and could change dramatically.
But from what I have observed, numerous divorces are still very prevalent in my neighborhood.

http://www.census.gov/prod/2002pubs/p70-80.pdf

[whitak24]

Originally posted by johnnymk


I went to the census bureau website, which reveals a divorce rate average in the past ten to twenty years averaging near 50% and a projected rate of 50%. Of course, projections are just estimates based on many factors and could change dramatically.
But from what I have observed, numerous divorces are still very prevalent in my neighborhood.

http://www.census.gov/prod/2002pubs/p70-80.pdf
i'm on dialup and really didn't have the patience to wait for the entire 20-page census bureau pdf to load.

but i believe the difference between the census data and that posted by bires is that the census data is measuring the divorce rate as a % of marriages that end in divorce. the data from bires is measuring the divorce rate as a % of people who have ever been divorced.

both numbers have their strong points, the former because it indicates what portion of marriages actually result in divorce. however, looking at that number in context of the latter data is important, because there are a few people who marry and divorce frequentely, skewing the prevalence of divorce upward.

on another note, the data from bires raises some interesting points and suggests some interesting questions....