This is not something you see every day.
While in the Western world a divorce – even among Royalty – has become a common occurrence, in the Middle East things are much different.
And to talk about an Instagram post by a UAE princess (or Sheikha) declaring her divorce from her recent husband with whom she just had a baby girl – that’s unprecedented.
But that’s just what happened with the daughter of Dubai’s head of government.
The western-educated 30-year-old woman apparently has announced her divorce on social media – a mere two months after she welcomed a baby girl with her husband.
New York Post reported:
“In a post shared on the verified account of Her Highness Sheikha Mahra Bint Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the 30-year-old said she was ending her marriage to husband Sheikh Mana bin Mohammed bin Rashid bin Mana Al Maktoum.
There has been no official comment from the House of Maktoum, the royal family that rules Dubai and which Sheikha Mahra comes from.”
The post begins with what has widely been understood as a mention to infidelity by her husband: ‘Dear Husband, As you are occupied by other companions…’.
The sequence is nothing less than stunning: ‘I hereby declare our divorce, I divorce you, I divorce you, and I divorce you’.
“Sheikha Mahra’s repetition of the statement ‘I divorce you’ is seemingly her using the Islamic practice known as triple talaq, [a practice that] allows husbands to swiftly divorce their wives by saying ‘I divorce you’ three times.”
The princess ends her message with ‘Take care. Your ex-wife’ – to the dismay of many in the Emirate.
Many residents go as far in their coping as to suggest that Sheikha Mahra’s account may have been hacked.
“Under UAE law, a Muslim male may have four wives, provided he offers equal sustenance and equal treatment to all.
Sheikha Mahra is the daughter of Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai and the prime minister of the UAE, making him the head of his nation’s government.”
The princess graduated from a London university in 2023, as is a strong advocate for women’s rights.
