A Muslim man can shed an unwanted wife by saying “I divorce thee” three times. Is there an equivalent for non-Muslim Americans? I think that I heard one at Costco yesterday…
A man was pushing a shopping cart containing a small child. His wife was walking ahead through the office products aisle. She said “I think we should get some packing tape.” He replied “Are you moving out?”
Islamic divorce is not as simple as you make it to be. Wikipedia has some more information (I think it is still more involved than that is written in the wiki article.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_and_divorce
According to Sharia law, if a man initiates the divorce, there is a required waiting period of three months before a divorce is considered valid. A man must announce his intentions, effectively “divorcing”, but still honor his obligations towards his wife (i.e. feed and clothe her) – during which time the couple can reconcile. If he completes the three-month period, still intent on separating from his wife, then the marriage no longer exists. If a woman initiates divorce, she doesn’t have to wait for the three month period; rather she must take the husband to court, where, depending on the situation, the marriage will be terminated upon certain conditions.
@Murat, that’s the written law, but is it honored or enforced?
At the cost of sounding racist, so Phil may decide not to post this, Muslim men can divorce their wife(s) with little effort, if any, but women cannot even when they have solid evidence of abuse, or what have you to grant a divorce.
The mentality of Muslim men about women can be summarized in the following sentence: women are viewed and treated as “flip flops”, use them as such and change them as needed.
I don’t think there is a need to explain how Muslim’s view shoe, after the shoe incident with Bush, or the shoe face slapping of Sadam’s status, when he fall.
You all are generalizing this for “Muslim men”, but I think what you mean is men who live in countries with Sharia law.
In countries with dominantly Muslim population but without the Sharia law, e.g. Turkey, this stereotype does not go beyond a joke, which was Phil’s attempt as well I assume.
As Anil notes, I did not mean this to be a serious exploration of Islamic marital law (my main knowledge of which comes from a newspaper story about a guy in Saudi Arabia who divorced his wife (supposedly legally) via an SMS message). I just thought the overheard conversation was funny and needed an intro.
And my point was not to generalize or stereotype, but to emphasize how low and unimportant women are viewed by many Muslim countries. My point was directed at @Murat simply because he provided details that are not the reality. In addition, my comment of “flip flops”, is not of my own invention, it *is* the used expression.
Yes, Turkey and few other Muslim countries, specially Jordan fair much better than those with Sharia law or strict Islamic laws.
@philg, there are many such stories, here is one:
“Saudi divorces wife for watching male TV host:
Riyadh, September 29: A Saudi man divorced his wife for watching alone a television programme presented by a male, an act he deemed immoral.
The man ended his marriage on the grounds his wife was effectively alone with an unrelated man, which is forbidden under the strict Islamic law enforced in the ultra-conservative kingdom, the Al Shams newspaper reported on Saturday.
Men in Saudi Arabia have the authority to divorce their wives without resort to the courts”
And another: “Sudanese Man Divorces Wife for Watching SOAP Opera”
And many more that you can find easily on web.