Mufti of Damascus: Husbands Should Not Divorce Wives out of Anger. Better to Wait Until She Dies, or Until He Reaches the Virgins of Paradise

The following are excerpts from an interview with the mufti of Damascus, Sheik Bashir 'Abd Al-Bari. Syrian TV aired this interview on February 10, 2005:

Sheik Bashir 'Abd Al-Bari: Like other clerics, I often get a case of a married man who divorced his wife because she made him angry. He became furious, and declared "you are divorced" three times. What am I supposed to do? This man shouldn't be angry. He must be very patient. The woman was created from a crooked rib, and the rib is most crooked at the top. This is not meant to belittle her, but this is how Allah created her in order to educate our children…

Interviewer:The best part of the rib…

Sheik Bashir 'Abd Al-Bari: Under no circumstances should divorce become a sword hanging over a wife's head, because the wife is the one who cooks my food, raises my children.

One way or another, this is a short period of time, either she dies and I am free of her, or I die and she is free of me.

Any wife who tries to get her husband angry must know that she is responsible to Allah, and that his wives from among the black-eyed virgins tell her: "may Allah curse you. Let him be, because he is about to come to us." Death is the end of all life, and the reward of patience is the black-eyed virgins in paradise.