RAMALLAH – Top Islamic judge in Palestine has ruled that there will be no divorces granted during the Islamic month of Ramadan, fearing the month-long fast could spark rash words that would be regretted later.
Mahmud Habash, the head of Palestinian Islamic courts, told judges not to grant divorces over Ramadan, the AlJazeera reported on Sunday.
The decision is based on “the experience of previous years” when Habash found that the dawn-to-dusk fast and ban on cigarettes, which began on Saturday, tended to lead to frayed tempers and sharp tongues.
“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”.
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.
There is no civil marriage or divorce in the Palestinian territories, where only religious courts have those powers.
