Ask Elhais

Question:

Assalamu alaikum I am a mother of 3 children my husband running a business here he’s cheating on me otherwise my family also disturb here now after ten years they live separately but they are hiding his faults what can I do now he doing zina.

Answer:

To answer your query, you can proceed further in two ways.

One is to file for divorce on the ground that your husband is cheating on you. You will be required to produce before the court two male witnesses or two female and one male witnesses, who would testify before the court that your husband is having an affair. If the statements of each witness are clear and they correspond with each other to effectively conclude that your husband is indeed having an affair, you will have a good chance of getting the divorce. You must bear in mind that the judge should be convinced by the statements provided by the witnesses.

The second option would be to file a criminal case against your husband for committing adultery. If the witnesses testify that they saw him engaged in a physical/sexual act with a woman, such as kissing, you will have the right to file a criminal case against him under Article 356 of Federal Law No. 3 of 1987, the Penal Code. Further, you must also bear in mind that Article 121 of the penal code, your husband along with the other woman would face mandatory deportation if they are expatriates and are found guilty.

Please feel free to contact us if you wish to be advised in more detail regarding this matter.

Disclaimer:
The above information might not apply if both parties are non-muslim. Starting from the 1st of February 2023, UAE issued specific family law to be applied between non-muslim expat residents in case none of them wanted to apply his/her home country’s law in the UAE.
To know more information about this law, please feel free to click this link.