Snoring blamed for most Saudi divorces

Snoring by husbands has been found to be the main cause of the high divorce rate in Saudi Arabia along with other key factors like the contractual Misyar marriage and lack of romance at home, a newspaper reported on Tuesday.

Nearly 80 per cent of the divorces in the Gulf Kingdom are a result of snoring by husbands, their lack of affection towards wives, the widespread Misyar marriage and the influence of western media and movies on Saudi women.

“The main factor is snoring by husbands…almost 80 per cent of the divorces in the Kingdom are requested by the wives because of snoring by their husbands,” Alyoum Arabic language daily said, quoting an unnamed Saudi Islamic scholar.

“The other main factors are the external appearance of husbands at home, lack of romance and the influence of foreign media and movies on women’s attitudes.”

Figures by the Ministry of Justice showed there were around 34,490 divorce cases in Saudi Arabia in 2012, nearly a quarter of the total marriages.

In some years, the world’s dominant oil supplier had an average one divorce every half an hour, one of the highest divorce rates in the world.

Official data showed that in 2010, the Kingdom recorded 18,765 divorces, a rate of more than 35 per cent of the marriages.

“This is far above the international rate of between 18 and 22 per cent…in some years, it exceeded 40 per cent in the Kingdom,” said Sheikh Saeed Al Yousuf, head of courts in the northeastern Saudi town of Tabuk.

In a recent report, the Saudi news network Alarabiya quoted a scholar as saying the introduction of Misyar marriage was a key cause for the surge in divorce rates.

“Misyar is the main factor….this is because when the man’s first wife discovers that her husband married another woman under Misyar contract, he will feel danger and this will prompt him to divorce the second wife easily…Misyar is seen as a temporary marriage and that is why divorce rates have increased in the Kingdom,” said Sheikh Mohammed Al Falaj, a family affair consultant.

A Misyar contract is a marriage contract where couples can live separately but get together regularly, often for sexual relations.

Although allowed in Saudi Arabia and under Sunni Islam, Misyar is not popular with many who see it as legal prostitution. Women lose nearly all their rights in a Misyar marriage and nearly 80 per cent of Misyar relationships end in divorce.

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