Okaz/Saudi Gazette

JEDDAH — The Personal Status Court in Jeddah has ordered a Saudi bride to return the dowry and gold to her groom after she was not willing to start a married life in the near future in line with the terms and conditions that were agreed upon at the time of entering into the marriage contract.

The court permitted divorce of the woman by the young Saudi man after he filed a lawsuit seeking a divorce in three months after entering into the marriage contract.

Okaz/Saudi Gazette has learned from the court sources that the groom had stated in his lawsuit that he married a university girl and gave her a dowry amounting to SR50,000 and a set of gold ornaments. It was agreed that the wedding party would take place within a short period of time later.

“There were many problems between us, and I was not able to communicate with her over phone or WhatsApp as she blocked me. I wanted the bride to either comply with the agreement to start living together in our new marital home or return the dowry and gold given to her,” he said in the petition while pointing out that he had tried to contact her father for a resolution, but to no avail.

During the hearing, the court presented the groom’s arguments to the bride and her father. The father’s reply was that the groom used to stay alone with his wife for hours over a long period of time and that his behavior made her hate him.

He also noted that his daughter was not ready to start living with the groom until after completing her university studies, and that would take another two years.

Reacting to this, the groom stated that the father’s remarks that he used to sit alone with his bride are true, but his statement that the bride had begun hating him is not true.

The groom also testified in front of the court that his bride was not in favor of having a baby unless there is a new contract with certain terms and conditions in this regard.

In a remote court session during which the court listened to witnesses of the two parties, the groom told the court that he had no objection to giving divorce to his wife in return for the entire dowry and gold set. Accordingly, the court ordered the bride and her father to do so.

The dowry amount was transferred to the groom through a bank transfer. The young man confirmed before the court that he had received the gold and the amount of dowry, and accordingly the court terminated their marriage contract. The court also ruled that the bride has to complete observing the legal waiting period (iddah) after the divorce.

Meanwhile, lawyer Nujoud Qassem said that there is a judicial precedent in this case. She noted that the court applied the provision of khula in her case and to the groom also. Under khula, it is permissible for woman, who wishes to terminate her marriage contract, to do so with the court’s intervention.

“In this case, the court found that the bride was procrastinating the completion of the marriage procedures and that resulted in financial losses to the groom. This prompted the court to oblige her to return what the groom paid her in terms of dowry and ornaments,” she said.

Nujoud pointed out that the Ministry of Justice obligated the Shariah courts to stick to the principle of reconciliation in personal status cases as well as to try to narrow the views as much as possible so as to reach either reconciliation or consent of the two parties in the event of their separation.