Page 172 - UAE Truncal States

The Islamic Basis of Society

However, lhere are very many cases when a wife who found life
intolerable with the husband or her in-laws, and being unable to
divorce her husband, behaved so obstreperously towards him that he
was forced to divorce her to save face in front of his relatives. The
majority of such cases happen before the couple have any children,
and both partners emerge from such a broken marriage without any
social stigma, often marrying again soon afterwards.
In the traditional society of theTrucial States divorce has nowhere
the stigma which is attached to it particularly for women in a
European society. The economic aspect of divorce rather than the
moral or social aspects may spell problems for women. Because if—
as happens frequently—she is divorced at an advanced age, maybe
because she cannot have any more children and the husband wants
to have a younger wife, she may no longer have a father or a family to
return to. She may have to live in the house of her brother or her
eldest son. One of the reasons why a woman wants to have many
sons, apart from pleasing her husband, is the hope that they will
provide for her in the event of divorce or death of her husband. It is
considered the duty of the sons to give support to their mother if she
needs it, to give her a house and the means of livelihood or else to take
her into their own homes. There are, however, many instances to be
found, particularly in Abu Dhabi state, as well as among the tribes
of Dhahirah, where a divorced or widowed women lives in the
household of one of her daughters and therefore at the expense of her
son-in-law.
Some women have sufficient independent means from an inheri­
tance to set up their own houses with servants and to engage in a
small business such as in one case buying perfume and incense in
large quantities and selling it to a small circle of female relatives and
friends. Others may even buy property in the suq and live off the
income of one or several shops which they let out. It is always with an
eye to the possibility of divorce that a wife keeps a separate account
of her own money and her possessions including domestic animals,
her jewellery and her date gardens.
For the same reason the bride-price plays a very important part in
the negotiations which precede a marriage. The total bride price is
made up of various components: firstly the money to be handed to the
father of the bride, who often gives this to his daughter, but it has
also been known to be used by the father to obtain for himself
another wife or a new car; secondly jewellery, dress material and
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