INDONESIA: DIVORCE BY E-MAIL IS OK, ACCORDING TO SHARI'AH

INDONESIA: DIVORCING VIA EMAIL OK UNDER SHARIA SAYS RESEARCHER

Jakarta, 13 Nov. (AKI) - Divorcing by email is possible under Islamic law or Sharia, according to an Indonesian researcher. Said Fierza Luthfyana, a law student at the Ubaya University in the country's second-largest city Surabaya, was quoted by Indoneisan news agency Antara as saying that a man can send an email to an attorney or a friend stating he wants to divorce his wife and simply ask the person he has chosen to read it to his spouse in front of a Sharia tribunal for the deed to be done.

Under Sharia, a man has to tell his wife he wants to divorce her in person, Luthfyana noted.

For this reason, according to the researcher, "the husband needs to send the email to someone else and not directly to his wife. He can send it to a friend, a family member or anyone he trusts."

"It is important that the 'talak' (statement in which a husband expresses the will to divorce) is expressed verbally," the researcher also explained, even if it is someone else who reads it out. "If the email is sent directly to the woman, however it is not legitimate because there is no verbal statement."

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Pertinent Links:

1) INDONESIA: DIVORCING VIA EMAIL OK UNDER SHARIA SAYS RESEARCHER