A 500,000 dirhams deferred bride price agreed as part of an Islamic wedding in UAE was enforced in the New Zealand courts as a contractual promise.
In December 2013, Rafif Salih married Rahla Almarzooqi in the United Arab Emirates. He was then working in New Zealand as a dentist; she was living in Australia on a UAE government scholarship. As is common with Islamic marriages, a bride price or nikah was agreed with Mr Salih making an immediate payment of 30,000 dirhams (about $13,000) and agreeing to payment of a further 500,000 dirhams (about $215,000) on his death or the event of an irreconcilable divorce.
The High Court was told they then lived in New Zealand, separating after six months. In 2016, Ms Almarzooqi obtained a divorce from the Personal Status Court of Dubai. Mr Salih refused to pay the agreed 500,000 dirhams. New Zealand courts had no grounds to enforce the UAE nikah, he said.
Islamic marriage customs are not unique to UAE and Sharia law, Justice Simon France said. Had they instead married in New Zealand, agreement to nikah can operate within a New Zealand legal context. Whether UAE law or New Zealand law applied, it was a case of determining terms of the marriage contract and establishing whether the contract had been broken, Justice France said.
Their marriage contract was governed by UAE law, Justice France ruled. Terms of the contract required Mr Salih pay 500,000 dirhams on their divorce.
Almarzooqi v. Salih – High Court (25.05.22)
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