Q: Hello,
I am American christian and my husband is Iraqi muslim.  We have been married for 15 years.  I would like to divorce him because he brought his exwife to America back in 1997(without informing me first) and they got married again. Since 2003 we only see him a couple hours a week – we have a 14 year old daughter.  Anyway, I want an Islamic divorce because we married by reading something out of a book (he’s XXXXXX) and I don’t want him to get in trouble for having two wives.  Please inform me as to how I can resolve this matter.
Thank you

Time: Thursday April 15, 2010 at 9:23 am

Answers:

Point 1: We cannot sanction any person violating the law of any country. By becoming a citizen of the USA, a pledge is generally taken to uphold values that do not contradict our religiosity.

Just a preference so as to avoid conflict

It is preferred for persons seeking divorce in the united states to go through the united states court system so as to be in harmony with the law of the land. Once the courts have approved of the divorce, a person can proceed with a religious divorce.
It would be best for you to attain an attorney that is understanding of your rights from a multi-perspective point of view.
Point 2: At our Islamic society/center, we do not read anything from a ‘book’ as you seem to have described. At our center I request court papers showing that the couple are genuinely married prior to doing an Islamic ceremony. I am not familiar with the process you have underwent. I would request you to go with your attorney to the place that performed your marriage so as to remove any complexity regarding to your matter.
We thank you for your query, May you attain the valued help and success you desire, Ameen.

Allah Certainly Knows Best.

p.s. To be fair: how can you not want him in trouble when he has created trouble and placed himself in trouble. Life is sometimes what we make of it! Should he read this, all we can say to him, we are not against you sir, we are against the manner in which you have chosen to act out, as depicted by the person placing the query. We respect both (all) parties. No answer is complete without evaluating both sides.