“I hereby declare our divorce,” wrote Mahra, the daughter of Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. “I divorce you, I divorce you, and I Divorce You. Take care. Your ex-wife.”
In repeating the phrase “I divorce you” thrice, the princess seemed to be referencing the controversial apply of triple talaq. Typically, below Sunni Islamic legislation, triple talaq permits a Muslim man to divorce his spouse by saying talaq — the Arabic phrase for divorce — thrice. The person doesn’t want to supply a cause or get hold of his spouse’s settlement.
Within the UAE, Islamic legislation governs marriage and divorce proceedings for Muslim {couples}, in addition to for {couples} of a Muslim man and a non-Muslim girl, based on the nation’s authorities web site. Non-Muslim expatriate {couples}, nonetheless, have the choice of searching for a divorce of their residence nation or of petitioning the court docket to request that their residence nation’s legal guidelines be utilized within the UAE.
Beneath sharia legislation, ladies usually obtain a dowry — or, in Arabic, mahr — from their husband or their husband’s household upon marriage. As soon as a girl returns the mahr, she is ready to legally get hold of a separation, known as khula.
Mahra married Sheikh Mana bin Mohammed bin Rashid bin Mana Al Maktoum, who can be a member of the UAE’s royal household, in a glamorous ceremony final Might. The couple welcomed a daughter lower than three months in the past.
The princess recommended in her Wednesday submit that her husband had been untrue to her, saying that he was “occupied with different companions.” Her obvious invocation of triple talaq broke from the apply’s typical implementation, as it’s males who invoke talaq below Islamic legislation.
Mahra is hardly the primary feminine relative of Sheikh Mohammed to take a stand that counters the emirate’s norms.
Sheikha Latifa, Mahra’s sister and a fellow princess of the emirate, described her father as a “main prison” and deemed him accountable for imprisoning disobedient ladies earlier than she fled Dubai, the New Yorker reported final Might. Although the prime minister of the UAE has highlighted gender equality in his public and political life, notably whereas engaged in diplomacy with the West, Latifa noticed Dubai as repressive for girls — even because the ruler’s daughter.
Latifa is one in all at the very least two Dubai princesses who tried to flee their household by fleeing the emirate, The Washington Publish reported in 2019.
Sheikh Mohammed additionally had a prolonged and contentious worldwide custody battle along with his sixth spouse, Princess Haya Bint Hussein. Hussein sought asylum in Germany in 2019, the BBC reported, and finally went into hiding in London, as she feared for her life after fleeing from her husband. The prime minister has at the very least 20 kids with at the very least six wives.
Within the UAE, a Muslim girl is just not legally permitted to marry a non-Muslim man with out proof of his conversion. A Muslim man is permitted to marry a non-Muslim girl and can be permitted to have as much as 4 wives, as long as he provides “equal sustenance and equal therapy to all,” based on the federal government web site.
Since Mahra’s announcement, each she and Sheikh Mana seem to have scrubbed all pictures of one another from their respective Instagram pages.
