The General Court in Makkah ruled on Wednesday that a 20-year-old woman be divorced from a man in his seventies, after the husband himself told the parents of the bride that he did not wish to marry anyone “by force”. According to Al-Madina newspaper on Thursday, the man had arranged the marriage with the parents of the woman, but on the night of festivities following the wedding ceremony he found his bride-to-be in floods of tears, saying that she only agreed to the union in order to “please her parents”. The groom, who is a close friend of his former father-in-law, decided to send the young woman back to her family saying he was against forcing anyone to marry, and requested the return of the money he had paid her father. The court ruled that the couple could divorce by “khula'”, whereby the wife may seek a divorce if granted the option by the groom before the signing of the marriage contract.
