Ex-husband ridicules RM600,000 mut'ah payment

Datuk Seri Norazam Shah Ibrahim is puzzled at how the High Court came to the amount when his gross monthly income was only about RM5,000 at the time the couple filed for divorce.

“My gross monthly income was only about RM5,000 at the time I filed for divorce.

“What’s even more puzzling is how the ridiculous amount was arrived at by the judge which is seen as an act to burden and victimise the husband.

“Based on the ijtihad system used by the judge, a husband with an income of RM5,000 is categorised as rich,” he said when met today.

The ijtihad system is the process of making a legal decision by independent interpretation of the Al-Quran and Sunnah.

Norazam was commenting on the Kuala Lumpur High Court’s decision recently which had ordered him to pay RM600,000 to his former wife for mut’ah.

Mut’ah in Islamic law refers to a temporary marriage that is contracted for a limited or fixed period and involves the payment of money to the female partner.

However amount of compensation in the form of cash and goods according to Islamic law is based on what the husband can afford to pay.

In November 2013, Norazam was ordered to pay RM600,000 to his former wife for mut’ah which needs to be settled within six months from the time the order was issued.

Following the order, Norazam had filed an appeal and notice of review but it had been rejected by the court without a legitimate explanation.

Norazam stressed, the judge had not used the thawabit procedure when passing sentence in this case, which is to pass judgement based on past cases.

“What I want to stress here is that the sentence passed by the judge is disproportionate to the husband’s income.

“How am I to pay RM600,000 with an income of RM5,000? Tell me how a husband can afford to pay that amount in six months. It is impossible for anyone earning this much to pay this amount,” he said.

He said, previous cases in the country had also not ordered a high mut’ah payment from a husband with a low pay scale.

“I know the Syariah Court has jurisdiction over this case. Based on this provision, I feel we should analyse the ijtihad system used by the judge in this case.

“The judge should take into consideration the husband’s ability to pay based on his gross income earned when the couple had married and not after divorce,” he said.

He said, he had also researched several past cases and was shocked with the high amount of mut’ah that he had been ordered to pay his former wife.

“In the case of Siti Aishah Abdul Aziz versus Abdul Ghafar in 1995, it can be concluded that the husband’s income was well below RM500 which is categorized as below the poverty level so the wife would only receive between RM30 and RM500 for mut’ah.

“An income of RM500 to RM1,500 is considered as middle income and an income of RM1,500 and above is considered as high income.

“This is the guide used by judges in determining the amount of mut’ah, although it varies depending on the husband’s income, however the amount has not reached as high as RM600,000.