Muslim woman secures vital maintenance after Sharia divorce ruling

WHILE barriers remain for Muslim women wanting to access assistance through courts in dissolving their marriages, a recent court ruling secured maintenance and medical cover for a Cape Town woman.

- CHEVON BOOYSEN

The woman, who sought R12 000, was granted monthly maintenance of R9 000 after her second divorce from the same husband.

After a breakdown in their first Shatia law marriage, the pensioner couple remarried in 2019, but in April this year, the husband issued his wife a talaq (a written declaration of divorce in terms of Sharia law).

At some stage in February 2025, the woman left the shared common home in Vasco, Goodwood, and took up residence with one of her adult sons from a previous marriage.

She separated from her husband and had left the common home before the issuing of the talaq.

The husband previously paid his wife R11 000 per month, but since February 2025, he had reduced the payments to amounts between R1 500 and R4 000 per month.

She was also maintained as a dependant on his medical aid plan, although the plan was changed.

The husband contended that it was not his responsibility to maintain the applicant, and the responsibility “rests with her two adult sons, in terms of Islamic principles”.