Islamic Divorce Law For Women in Egypt

Under the rules of Islamic sharia, the husband can end his marriage unilaterally by simply announcing the words "I divorce my wife" or "I divorce you" three times. He does not need to justify his decision, nor explain any reason for his divorce and never need to enter a courtroom to end his marriage. Egyptian Muslim women however are denied equal right to divorce. They are trapped in unwanted marriages or left begging for a divorce that can take years to obtain and leave them destitute.

Egypt's Islamic family law of divorce is established in five legislations: (1) the law of 1920; (2) the law of 1929; the law of 1979; (4) the law of 1985; and (5) the law of 2000.

The Divorce Laws of 1920 & 1929

The 1920 law deals with divorce and financial support under which a woman might be eligible to seek a divorce from her husband, The law restricted woman's right to divorce to lack of husband's economic support, such as desertion, disappearance, and imprisonment. Article 1 of the Law of 1920 provides that maintenance was a cumulative debt owed by the husband to his wife, it starts from the first time the husband failed to support his wife. Article 2 decreed the wife's maintenance debt should be computed from the date of her divorce. Articles 4 and 5 included the husband's failure to provide maintenance as sufficient grounds for divorce.

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