Marrying in Dubai under Sharia law, Rafid Salih paid an immediate bride price of $12,700 to his new wife Rahla Almarzooqi, promising a deferred bride price of $212,000 should they later divorce. They divorced three years later. An order of the Dubai courts that Mr Salih pay the deferred amount could not be enforced in New Zealand because he did not appear at the Dubai hearing.
New Zealand courts have signalled a willingness to follow the practice in England courts and recognise Islamic traditions around marriage and divorce, but Ms Almarzooqi’s claim in the New Zealand courts to a deferred bride price foundered on technical issues of jurisdiction: rules governing enforcement of an order made by a foreign court.
In New Zealand, the Court of Appeal said the Dubai court order pronouncing their divorce would be recognised (this was a change of status) but not the order Mr Salih pay a sum of money (that required him to have been under jurisdiction of the Dubai court).
The two live in New Zealand. They first met on an Islamic dating website, when she was living in Australia and he in New Zealand. She is a UAE citizen and a NZ resident; he is Iranian and a NZ citizen. They travelled to Dubai, marrying according to Sharia law with their marriage contract providing for payment of both an immediate and a deferred bride price. They separated within six months.
As a UAE citizen, Ms Almarzooqi applied to the Dubai courts for a divorce. Divorce papers were served on Mr Salih in New Zealand. The Dubai court rejected papers filed by Mr Salih in response; he had to either appear in person or have a lawyer appear on his behalf, the court said. Mr Salih did neither. The divorce hearing proceeded without any further input from him.
In New Zealand, the Court of Appeal ruled Mr Salih had never submitted to Dubai jurisdiction; having court papers rejected by Dubai courts and then doing nothing did not bring him under Dubai jurisdiction. The Dubai court judgment ordering payment of the deferred bride price could not be enforced in New Zealand.
Almarzooqi v. Salih – Court of Appeal (23.07.21)
21.125