Women's Right to Terminate Marriage by Individual Will According to Saudi Family Law

Abstract

The issue of protecting women's rights has garnered extensive attention from international organizations, particularly the United Nations, through a range of international covenants and agreements, most notably the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). Since the provisions of these declarations and agreements mandate equality between men and women upon the dissolution of marriage and prohibit discrimination against women in ending a marriage, and given that the marriage and divorce system in Islamic societies is religious, based on the sacred texts of Islamic Sharia, Islamic countries have attempted in their national laws to grant women the right to end the marital bond in a manner consistent with international agreements on one hand, and not in conflict with Islamic Sharia on the other. This study highlights the efforts of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in supporting women's right to unilaterally terminate a marriage, in line with the provisions of the international agreements to which the Kingdom is a party, while also adhering to the sacred Islamic texts relevant to this context. The Saudi legislator has selected jurisprudential interpretations and explanations of Islamic texts that support this direction, avoiding strict interpretations and opinions on this issue, to balance as much as possible between the provisions of Islamic Sharia and the demands of modernity and development. This has resulted in a means that aims to establish balance upon the dissolution of a marriage. The study concluded that Saudi Arabia has made significant progress in this area, and it can ensure more rights for women by exploring non-strict religious opinions and jurisprudential interpretations.