Report: Divorce rate among Muslims on the increase since 2020

NAIROBI—According to the research conducted by the Family Resource Centre (FRC), Narobi County has seen a rise in the number of divorce cases among Muslims in recent years.

The FRC, a registered charitable trust that deals with family issues in the Islamiccommunity, collaborated with the office of the Deputy Chief Kadhi to conduct a research and collect statistics on marriages and divorces from 2014 to 2018.

The leadership of FRC, led by Sheikh Abdullatif Abdulkarim, last week, presented by the Deputy Chief Kadhi Sheikh Sukyan Hassan Omar with the 2020 report on the factors that contribute to increased divorce rates in the Muslim community in Nairobi.

The rate of divorce in the Muslim community in the County has climbed to , up from 16 percent, according to statistics in the 2020 report.

“The study conducted for Nairobi County indicates an exponential increase in divorce. Between 2014 and 2018 the divorce has increased four times from 50
divorces in 2014 to 228 divorces in 2018.

Chairman Family Resource Centre(FRC),Sheikh Abdullatif Abdulkarim(CENTRE) handing over the 2020 report on the factors that contribute to increased divorce rates in the Muslim community to Nairobi Senior principal Kadhi Sheikh Athman Abdulhalim Hussein. Looking on are Principal Kadhi Garbatullah Sheikh Adan Galgalo, Senior Resident Kadhi Takaba Sheikh Hussein Muhammad Hassan, and members of
the Family Resource Centre. (Friday Bulletin)

The rate of divorce per year is about 16% and this is exceptionally high,” read part of the report. In the report, the lack of maintenance and desertion are the key drivers of divorces and on average contribute to about 39% of the reasons for divorce.

“The highest reported case of lack of maintenance was reported in 2017 (30%) and the lowest was reported in 2015 (20%).

The second most reported cause for di-
vorce was desertion. It varied between 11% and 23% over the reported years. It was highest in 2014 (23%) and lowest in 2015 (11%) but has gone up to 16% in 2017 and 2018,” indicated the report.

The research further unveiled that domestic violence, lack of conjugal rights, drug and substance abuse, abuse and cruelty, husband infidelity among other factors are increasingly being an issue and are driving some of the divorce cases.

According to the research, there are com-
plex issues related to marriages and divorces, and there is a need to gather more information and analyze the drivers of divorce, as well as address the issues at the societal and national levels.

In addition, according to Abdulrahman
(2020) research on causes of divorce
among Muslims in Mombasa County, indicated that there was a great disparity in opinion among some 200 respondents regarding the causes of divorce in the County.

Abdulrahman (2020) report indicated about 49% of respondents felt that family interference is the main factor in divorce. Another 46% of participants responded that poverty and unemployment were the leading cause of divorce.

41.5% of respondents mentioned that domestic violence is one of the causes of divorce, followed by 41% of respondents who said that early marriage was the reason for the divorce.

Among the recommendations in the FRC report includes a proposal for empowerment programmes such as formal and informal education, community support (support small scale business to women and youth), marriage counseling (to include training of Kadhis), addressing drug abuse and violence in society.

Principal Kadhi Garbatullah Sheikh Adan Galgalo, Senior Resident Kadhi Takaba
Sheikh Hussein Muhammad Hassan, and members of the Family Resource Centre were in attendance for the handover of the report.