Grand Mufti Abdul Aziz Al-Asheikh

Grand Mufti Abdul Aziz Al-Asheikh has warned people against defaming their spouses or in-laws on social networking sites, saying such publicity could destroy families, complicate court cases and create scandals.

Electronic daily sabq.org has published the harrowing story of one divorcee. “My husband divorced me after 20 years of marriage by pronouncing the divorce verbally thrice,” said Umm Abdul Rahman.

“When I moved the court, he got furious and started to defame me online, saying he divorced me because I was, in his words, ‘perverted’.”

She added: “He lashed out at me, posting scandalous remarks of this type about me and my relatives on Twitter because he couldn’t prove his charges against me in court.”

She said: “He tried to tarnish our reputation and even attempted to thwart my sister’s marriage.”

Yet such stories aren’t the worst of them all. Another divorcee, who chose anonymity, said her husband asked her sons — who used to visit their mother following their separation — to take a picture of her so that he could use it to blackmail her online. Her son, however, refused to be an accomplice in the plan.

Family consultant Abdul Rahman Al-Qarash said that a growing addiction to social media has wrecked family cohesion. “Most men resort to insulting their wives online when they ask for a divorce, which these men consider a blow to their egos.”

 
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