Saudi divorces wife over live radio broadcast

A Saudi Arabian man divorced his wife live on-air over one of the kingdom’s radio broadcasts, it was reported this week. The unnamed man called in to a popular radio programme that specialises in dealing with marital issues, where he told prominent Islamic scholar Sheikh Gazi al-Shammari that his wife “offended his manhood” by attending a business conference. According to Al-Arabiya, the man’s wife had travelled from Jeddah to the capital Riyadh alone and without seeking his approval. In response, presenter al-Shammari advised he break off his marriage of ten years to the woman. “Such a wife is suspicious because she insisted to travel alone to Riyadh and without ample reason,” al-Shammari was quoted as saying. “I did not rush with the advice because I saw that the issue was dangerous and that we should not remain silent more about it.” He did, however, add that the caller may wish to consider re-marrying his newly ex wife in future. Under Islam, a husband is able to divorce his wife by repeating a specific phrase three times. The rule does not apply to women who wish to end a marriage though.