From year to year, divorce cases tend to increase in Saudi Arabia, and the divorce rate has been staggeringly high in recent years. According to a report from Saudi Arabia’s General Authority of Statistics, about 37 percent of marriages in the kingdom end in divorce. The statistics also reveal that more than 60 percent of divorces take place among newlyweds.
Here are a few examples of statistical data on divorce cases in Saudi Arabia. In 2019, there were about 51,000 divorce cases, and in the following year (2020), the number increased by 57,595 cases (an increase of 12.7 percent). In 2022, divorce cases skyrocketed, reaching more than 350,000. This figure is certainly high for a country of 36 million (in 2023).
The data exclude divorce cases that courts do not record so that the real figure may be higher. Nonetheless, in Arab countries, Kuwait has the highest divorce rate (about 48 percent), followed by Egypt (40 percent).
Why is the divorce rate so high in Saudi Arabia? This question is interesting partly because of the following reasons.
First, previous anthropological studies drawing largely from African societies show that divorce rates tend to be lower in societies with strong kinship bonds and substantial bride wealth payments (the compensation given by the groom or his family to the bride’s family to ratify and formalize marriage relationships).
Like African societies, Saudi society is also typified by sturdy kinship ties and large bride wealth that have existed in the Arabian Peninsula since the pre-Islamic era. This means the previous studies contradict divorce cases in Saudi Arabia (or Kuwait and Egypt).
Second, although Islam permits divorce (dissolution of marriage), it is not laudable. The Quran suggests and promotes reconciliation when disharmony happens between spouses. In other words, divorce should not be the first option and solution but the last resort instead. Prophet Muhammad also reportedly said that of all permissible things to God, divorce is the most hated one. Saudi Arabia uses Islam (and the Quran) as its main foundation and a source of law, values and norms.
But why, in the case of divorce, does Saudi society seem not to adhere to the Quranic rules and Prophet Muhammad’s counsels?
Divorce arrangements vary widely across cultures. While the Roman Catholic church prohibits divorce outright, Hopi women in the United States can divorce their husbands easily by simply putting their belongings outside the door.
To some extent, although marriage is intended to be everlasting in Islam, divorce provisions tend to be easy in Muslim societies, including in Saudi Arabia. In theory, although opinions vary among Islamic scholars and schools of thought (and jurisprudence), a husband can easily divorce his wife (or wives).
This common practice existed in pre-Islamic Arabia, which made women vulnerable. Even if Islam has substantially reformed Arabia’s pre-Islamic divorce practices that limited wives’ rights, some patriarchal elements survived. Some Saudi husbands tend to follow this path. Yet, in the field, things tend to be more complicated than we thought.
For example, unlike in the past when Saudi wives tended to find it difficult to arrange a divorce, new rulings on divorce give more balance between wife and husband and, to some extent, reinforce the rights of divorced wives. Under the new law, both wife and husband can request a divorce if one fails to fulfill an agreed condition set up during the marriage.
Moreover, the new rules also mandate the husband to provide alimony (e.g., food, housing and other necessities) to the divorced wife even if she has personal wealth, especially for raising their children, who did not have support from their father in the past. This reformed law can lead a wife to divorce her husband easily.
The rise of women’s emancipation and employment can also be important factors of divorce in modern-day Saudi Arabia. In the past, women’s rights and chances to work in public were limited (e.g., only as schoolteachers or nurses). But now they can work in any field and be in any profession. In other words, they can get money easily and can be financially self-sufficient without depending on their husbands or fathers.
In the past, marriage could be a “door” for women to obtain money from their husbands so they could spend it on food, shopping, recreation and other needs. Today, this is no longer the case, so wives are not afraid of divorcing their husbands since they can support and finance themselves and their children. In brief, the high divorce rate mirrors women’s independence not only on financial issues but also on other matters.
Certainly, as in other places, there are multiple factors contributing to the high rate of divorce in Saudi Arabia. Salman Al-Amri, a Saudi researcher on divorce cases, underscores several important factors leading to divorce, including injustice, lack of trust and honesty, new urban cultures and modern information technology such as the internet and social media networks, among others.
Whatever the reasons for divorce, it is obvious that the high divorce rate reflects the massive social implications of immense changes in the kingdom since the launch of the Saudi Vision in 2016. One such effect is the changing perception of marriage from a religious and social obligation to an individual choice. It is also a reflection that no matter how conservative a society is in terms of religious practices, change cannot be avoided and religious norms and actors cannot always dictate adherents of a religion.
Note: This article was previously published in The Jakarta Post on 23 March 2024.
