Al-Watan

THE Justice Ministry tells us every year about increasing cases of divorce (which Allah considers as the most hateful thing) in the Kingdom. This is really shocking and denotes an unhealthy phenomenon in our society. The main victims are children who pay heavily for their parents’ separation.

In 2014, the Ministry of Justice recorded 240,000 divorce cases in the Kingdom’s regions. The General Statistics Authority put the number of divorce cases at 54,471, which declined to 46,373 in the following year.

This means an average of 127 divorce cases take place in the Kingdom every day and five cases per hour. According to a report published by Al-Watan Arabic daily on July 2, 2016, a divorce case is reported after every five marriages in the Kingdom.

Conflicts between spouses often end up in divorce as they are unable to reach a mutually satisfactory settlement. Haughtiness and stubbornness of the couple are to be blamed for divorce as both generally are not ready to make concessions for the sake of their children, the weakest party who lacks the ability to intervene in the matter and seeks a sympathetic gesture of parents to end the conflict.

There are different cases of divorce at courts. Many divorce cases in the Kingdom are filed by wives who insist on separation due to various reasons such as the weakness of husband, his lack of romance, unjustified stubbornness and extramarital affairs. Some divorces have taken place before the spouses start cohabitation, which is an acceptable reason for divorce.

The main issue is that no reconciliation effort is made by both sides to narrow their differences and lead a happy married life, recognizing the good qualities of each other and ignoring their shortcomings. The feuding couple often forgets the fact that each of them has a responsibility to correct the other's faults, provided that it does not turn into imposing domination and control.

When the spouses reach a dead-end it would be difficult for them to see each other and they would not be ready to make sacrifices, which demand courage from both sides to accept the other party and the new reality imposed by the state of disagreement between them.

Divorce will not be problem in all cases, despite the fact that it fires three fatal bullets that divide and shatter the family. It is the final solution for some social problems such as honor cases.

In our Oriental societies, men have the most difficult roles to lead in the family. If they fail to read their wives and children properly and meet their demands it’s quite natural that their marriage life would be a failure. The Oriental man does not give the family much attention it deserves, and he only plays the role of the father as a leader. So it is natural that problems arise in a striking and complex manner.

The couple should understand the greatness of the short moments of life and give priority to the well-being of the family and there is nothing to compensate it. They must understand that their most important duty is to complement each other and not begetting children.

The Oriental men and women in our societies represent a complex personality. They face big challenges imposed by the tremendous transformations as a result of openness toward other cultures thanks to the support of modern technology. The couple has to take this aspect into account before making decisions and taking a stand on each other.

Solutions are often possible if searched for rather than awaiting them. The secret of marital life lies in remolding the character and personality of husband and wife in line with the other to reach a point of convergence, and this will not be difficult if there is a real decision and resolve to take such a bold step to save the married life and realize happiness of the whole family.