Ok with all the events that happened in the last few days , something came to my mind.

Now I"m Christian so I don't know the Islamic side of this so maybe someone else can fill that in. Now if I had gotten married in Jordan to my fiance, and God forbid we got a divorce, he would not be able to remarry in Jordan unless we divorced overthere.

In Islam, is there any form of recourse that you are entitled to if you got married in his home country? I have heard that if a man wants to divorce his wife in his country there are rules he has to obide by.

I asked my husband once and he said in Jordan it's pretty simple. You do the 3 talaqs and then later on you can file a paper with the court saying you're divorced. I'll ask him again when he gets done praying.

My husband is Muslim and I am unsure, but he says that if we wanted a divorce, we would have to stay together for 3 months. You have to sleep with that person every night and if you have sex, than you can not divorce. But if you do not touch one another for them 3 months, than you can divorce. I do not know if that is what talaqs are, but it is 3 months also. Robin

So does the woman have to file anything in Jordan with the court to end the marriage or are the divorce docs from the US enough? Does the man have to provide anything to his ex wife financially?

It is "I divorce you" in Arabic. It's not 3 months, it's that you have to say it 3 times. Then you go through 'iddah (the waiting period), then you are free to move on. The iddah is 2-fold: both as a chance of reconciliation but also to make sure she is not pregnant when she is declared "free" as it were. Islam places (and ME culture in general) high priority on parentage.

I thought you could sleep in the same house but seperate rooms during 'iddah.

I think as long as one of them does it, it counts. Jordan recently granted women the right to initiate divorce through the Sharia court without her husband's approval. This just means though she probably has to conform to the Sunni laws already in place in Islam. (Ok as an aside, I am tossing this in. Ammar says they did this because there are too many women, especially women in other countries surrounding Jordan, who cannot get a divorce for a real reason.. like being abused. he said it is cruel and unusual to make a woman stay in this situation, so Jordan has decided to grant divorces for this reason.)

I don't know how it works as far as submitting a divorce paper from the US, although I am assumiing it's like when you're re-marrying in Jordan. They accept divorce papers in the Sharia court (and I am assuming in the Ecclesiastical system as well??) but they have to be original papers with stamps and seals (you know how they love stamps) and they also have to have some kind of something from the embassy.

Ok! I asked Ammar! This is what he said. "The law in Jordan is the same whether you divorce in Jordan, the US, or the moon." And this is what he says the law is:
1. The talaqs.
2. The 'iddah.
3. the maintenance of the woman is paid until the child is weaned if they have a small child.
4. She keeps her mahr is she is divorced BY the man.
5. She loses her children if she remarries.

He said the basic problem is that you cannot make dishonest people conform to the law, and that it is easy to hide. Even though the court may order a monthly payment from the man to the ex-wife, it is usually based on income and it is easy there to hide and lie about your income. he pointed out it's the door/window lock problem. locks keep honest people out. not criminals. The law makes honest people do the right thing, not dishonest people.

So he said even if a woman is divorced in the US by her Jordanian husband, he would have to conform to the laws of Jordan which provide maintenance for a woman who is nursing a child.

It depends on whether they are married; as in "consummated" the marriage. The waiting period applies in that case....cause they want to make sure she's not pregnant. The katib Ketab makes you legally married and obligated to this contract you both signed. The Ma-akhir that was written during the Katib Ketab is given to the woman if the divorce is initiated by the man. The dowry/gold may be requested to be returned...but when the girl asks for the divorce I think she loses that as well. At the divorce, the Sheik or Judge asks each person if they have gotten what is "theirs". I am not sure though when kids are involved, but I think that if they are being nursed they stay with the mom....if older then the man gets them (again this is based on my observations and hearsay....so I could totally be wrong....and this is from Jordan).

Someone mentioned that the woman can initiate the divorce. That is true. But in this male dominated society the man can make it very difficult for the process to be carried out. He can also grant power of attorney to someone, that is recognized in the Sharia courts, to act as a representative for him in divorce...just as he can do the same in marriage.


EDIT: To correct grammer mistakes. :-)

In Malaysia some men do the "triple talaq" via text message:

I D1V0RC3 U X 3 LOL OMG

rclouse that was funny. I saw my taleq's on yahoo messenger. x3

Jackie