There was a mild drama at a Shari’a Court sitting in Magajin Gari, Kaduna State, after a man agreed to the dissolution of his marriage but refused to accept the N10,000 dowry his wife offered to return to him.
The woman, Khadija Isah, had approached the court seeking the dissolution of her marriage to Abdulrazaq Abdulra’uf through Khul’i, a form of Islamic divorce in which a wife seeks to end the marriage and offers to return the dowry received from her husband.
Isah, who has two children, boys aged 15 and 10, told the court that she was prepared to refund the N10,000 paid as her dowry.
However, the proceedings took an unexpected turn when Abdulra’uf’s counsel, Yazid Abdulsalam, declined to collect the money on behalf of his client.
Despite the refusal to accept the dowry refund, the presiding judge, Mu’awiyah Shehu, proceeded to dissolve the marriage.
The development effectively brought the couple’s marriage to an end, with the court granting Isah’s request for divorce.
Khul’i differs from a conventional divorce initiated by the husband, as it is generally sought by the wife, often with an offer to return the dowry or another agreed consideration.
