Malaysia's new trend: Divorce by phone text message
Malaysia's new trend: Divorce by phone text message
Religion vs. technology: Malaysia's divorce by phone text message raises questions about Islam in the modern world[
Rohan Sullivan, Associated Press, Kuala Lumpur
After a quarrel with her husband, a young wife flees back to her mother and he fumes from outside: "If you don't leave your parents' house, you will be divorced".
This text message delivered from his mobile phone to hers was more than just a cry of frustration. Under Islamic law, it was enough to start formal proceedings that eventually annulled the 18-month marriage -- the cyberspace equivalent of serving divorce papers.
A Malaysian religious court's ruling last week that the text message was a valid notice of intent to divorce caused a furor in this Southeast Asian country. Experts say it also underscores the difficult problem of how to make Islam's sacred and age-old traditions jibe with the modern world.
As computers, mobile phones and other gadgets increasingly become part of people's lives, Islam's guardians are being asked to interpret how new technology applies to the Shariah, or religious law, set out in the Koran, Islam's holy book.
Recent rulings in several countries on divorce are an example. Divorce is allowed -- though discouraged -- in Islam. Interpretations vary, but it is generally accepted that a Muslim husband has divorced his wife if he announces his intention to do so to her and the decision is ratified by a cleric. For a wife to divorce a husband, however, the process is far more difficult.
When the Koran was written more than 2,500 years ago, few options would have existed but for a face-to-face meeting between husband and wife or a handwritten declaration.
But in 2001, in the United Arab Emirates, a phone text message was accepted as a form of written declaration, prompting test cases in other Muslim countries. In nearby Qatar, an Islamic scholar decreed that divorce by Internet e-mail was OK. But in Singapore, which has a large Muslim minority, religious authorities disallowed phone text messages.
Dr. Patricia Martinez, an expert on women's role in Islam, said the divorce debate isn't likely to shake Islam's foundations, but is an example of how Islamic authorities need to adapt its rules to new technology or risk losing relevance to today's Muslims.
How technology mixes with Islam "is a dilemma for most Muslims because Islam is essentially prescriptive, so there is a need for guidance when one comes across a new way to be", said Martinez, a senior research fellow at the University of Malaya's Asia-Europe Institute.
Last week's ruling in Malaysia was the first time such a case had reached the country's religious courts, which must approve each pronouncement of talaq, or divorce, for it to become legal.
Ethnic Malay Muslims form about two-thirds of the roughly 23 million population, and moderate Islamic laws covering religious and family issues coexist with Malaysia's secular constitution and court system based on British law.
The combination bolsters long-time Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's claim that the country is progressive and democratic, but also pious. He says Malaysia as a model for other Islamic and developing nations, a view U.S. President George W. Bush has said he shares.
When the phone message ruling was first made, the government's official religious adviser, Abdul Hamid Othman, initially did not object, saying a phone text message was "just another form a writing".
But Mahathir disapproved, saying "I think that if people want to divorce their wives, they should resort to a much more personal approach than that".
Officials quickly backtracked and announced a review of religious divorce laws.
"Husbands should not be allowed to freely use SMS and other easy methods such as e-mails, voicemail or even facsimile to begin divorce proceedings," Abdul Hamid said.
On Friday, Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who is due to succeed Mahathir when he retires later this year, described divorce by phone message as in "bad taste" and urged Malaysians not to misuse information and communications technology, the Bernama national news agency reported.
"The government is not backward just because it does not allow a husband and wife to divorce using the mobile telephone's short messaging service," Abdullah was quoted as saying. "It is unethical, unsuitable, can lead to lies and abuse."
The changes are not likely to meet much opposition - religious mullahs in Malaysia have far less influence on legal matters than in some other Islamic countries.