http://www.boston.com/dailynews/220/world/Muslims_in_high_tech_Singapore:.shtml

Muslims in high-tech Singapore cannot declare divorce by phone text messages, clerics say

By Associated Press, 8/8/2001 05:11

SINGAPORE (AP) Muslim men in high-tech Singapore cannot get a quickie divorce from their wives by sending text messages over their cell phones, Islamic authorities ruled Wednesday.

The decision ended weeks of debate over the issue after a Dubai court in the United Arab Emirates accepted a text message as a written declaration of divorce.

Under Islamic law, a husband must declare the divorce to his wife, although different countries give such statements different legal weight. In Singapore, he must declare ''I divorce you,'' to his wife three times, then within seven days he must apply for a divorce before an Islamic court.

Some Muslim authorities in Singapore and Malaysia had initially agreed with the Dubai ruling, which outraged some women's groups.

Sending a short text message to declare divorce is ''unacceptable,'' said the statement from the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore, the Islamic court and the Registry of Muslim Marriages.

The Muslim authorities said the message service divorce debate ''has brought about negative effects that can tarnish the image of Islam and the sanctity of the marriage institution itself.''

The statement said God ''detests divorce'' and that Muslims should try to solve marriage problems. About 15 percent of Singapore's 4 million people are Muslims.

-- Anonymous, August 08, 2001