RAMALLAH – A top Sharia judge in Palestine has ruled that there will be no divorce during the holy month of Ramazan.
Mahmud Habash, the head of Palestinian Islamic courts, has asked the judges not to grant divorces over Ramazan, fearing the month-long fast could spark rash words that would be regretted later.
The judge said he based his ruling on “the experience of previous years” when he found that the dawn-to-dusk fast and ban on cigarettes, which began on Saturday, tended to lead to frayed tempers and sharp tongues, the Al-Jazeera reported.
“Some, because they have not eaten and not smoked, create problems” in their marriages, he said in a statement, and they can make “quick and ill-considered decisions”.
There is no civil marriage or divorce in the Palestinian territories, where only religious courts have those powers.
According to the Palestinian Authority, 50,000 weddings were celebrated in the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip in 2015, but more than 8,000 divorces were also registered.
