Divorce deterrent in Kano

Also published in Daily Trust

Commander-General, Kano State Hisbah Board, Sheikh Aminu Ibrahim Daurawa

In its effort to curb the embarrassingly high divorce rate in Kano, the state Hisbah Board has stipulated that, henceforth for anybody to qualify for its government-sponsored mass wedding scheme, he must agree to pay fifty thousand naira to his wife should he decide to divorce her.

It is however obvious that, given the sheer amount of physical suffering and stress suffered by divorced women and their children in the society, this amount is simply too little to alleviate their suffering let alone enable them pick up the fragments of their shattered lives.  It is also too little to deter anyone deciding to divorce his wife. Besides, even if it eventually applies to all married men in the state, it is not likely to curb the high divorce rate anyway, because, for the average notoriously marriage-abusing Bakano, divorce is not a big deal in the first place.

Incidentally, the Ulama-led Kano Hisbah Board was apparently inspired by the concept of Mu’akhhrus-sadaaq i.e. deferred dowry under Islamic laws governing marriage contract between couples, even though it is not commonly practiced in the state and indeed the country.

According to the relevant Islamic laws, in addition to the standard conditions of marriage, either of the two parties can propose and demand the inclusion of any extra conditions that do not contradict the Shari’a, in the contract, and once the other party agrees, those extra conditions become an integral part of the marriage contract hence legally binding.

This is designed to further safeguard the rights and interests of either party, particularly the bride-to-be who is more likely to suffer more should the marriage fail or in the event of the husband’s death. Deferred dowry arrangement is therefore the most realistic arrangement made to achieve this objective.

Under this arrangement, the bride-to-be voluntarily agrees to defer her claim for a portion of her dowry, which by the way could be much more than the portion she actually receives. For example, she can quote one million naira as her dowry but agrees to collect only ten thousand naira and defer her claim for the balance of nine hundred and ninety thousand to the unanticipated though possible event of divorce, for instance.

By the way, in view of the fact that it is intended to protect her from going destitute, Mu’akhhrus-sadaaq is better quoted in valuable assets, either moveable or immovable e.g. diamond, gold or a clearly specified landed property, instead of cash, which may depreciate over time and indeed fail to pay for the cost of what it was originally intended to provide her with.

In any case however, the amount and value of the quoted deferred dowry should be reasonable enough compared to the suitor’s financial ability and the lady’s standard of living at the time of the wedding. Yet, though I don’t know the bases on which Kano Hisbah Board fixed only fifty thousand naira as divorce settlement, I am sure it did not appropriately consider the sheer amount of deprivation, stigma, neglect and exploitation suffered by the divorced women in the state.

After all, for the largely unfairly treated average married woman in the society, divorce is, in most cases, the predictable culmination of a series of abuse, insult and neglect by her husband, who, based on his inhuman assumption assumes that he is done with her hence simply decides to divorce her and sends her back to her parents’ home where her protracted predicament takes another dimension and indeed gets worse.

The poor lady who consequently becomes effectively despised and neglected by her parents for allegedly putting them to shame, disdained by her siblings, stigmatized by the society and unjustly accused by all for being solely responsible for her marriage failure, becomes frustrated and desperate, which, as a matter of course, render her vulnerable to emotional manipulation, economic exploitation and even sexual abuse by some unscrupulous men, who may pretend to marry her and save her from her dilemma. This situation is particularly worse as far as the uneducated or barely educated women are concerned.

Moreover, since some of these challenges result from some socio-cultural misconceptions about divorce and divorced women in the society, they can be addressed through concerted enlightenment campaigns with a view to changing people’s attitudes. Yet, a great deal of these challenges can only be addressed by enlightening the women of their right to include Mu’akhhrus-sadaaq arrangement in their marriage contracts, so as to have the means to secure for themselves and their children a reasonably dignified living condition, and for a considerable period of time should the marriage fail.

For instance, a lady can demand and quote a Mu’akhhrus-sadaaq reasonable enough to enable her pay the rent for a reasonable accommodation for at least two years after divorce, and also cover all her basic needs and even some not so basic needs within this period of time. And if she happens to have children with him, he should be compelled to take care of them appropriately.

Muslim scholars are therefore particularly expected to educate and enlighten women about this important right and indeed other rights given to them by Islam but literally denied and prevented from exercising it under various pretexts.

Likewise, women right organizations, pressure groups and other activists should put and sustain pressure on government to, through appropriate legislative channels, make substantive laws to sanction it and provide necessary administrative procedures to administer it and appropriate judicial instruments to enforce it.