Mom’s fight for ‘spiritual journey’

A DURBAN mother who thought she had been freed from three years of “marital torture” expected a better life when her husband left her by saying talaq (the Arabic word for divorce) three times.

But she said he was still trying to control her by refusing to hand over their 3-year-old daughter’s passport so that she could go on a spiritual journey to Turkey and Baghdad. Livid, she took him to court and won.

Ruling in favour of the Chatsworth woman on Friday, Judge Rashid Vahed said in the Durban High Court that “only Donald Trump would have a problem with Baghdad”.

This was in reference to the woman’s ex-husband opposing the proposed travel to the war-torn, militarised capital of Iraq.

US President Trump instituted a travel ban targeting six Muslim-majority countries, including Iraq’s neighbour, Iran.

The woman, whose name is being withheld to prevent identification of the child involved, had launched a monthlong battle with her ex-husband when he refused to hand over their child’s passport or allow her to obtain a new one as he “feared” for the child’s safety travelling abroad.

Her counsel, advocate Sian Clarence, brought the matter on an urgent basis.

The couple married in accordance with Islamic rites in 2013 and divorced last year.

In an affidavit, the mother said her ex-husband had also backtracked on an undertaking last year that she could travel with their daughter for the Islamic pilgrimage of Umrah.

“This was arranged in January last year. He gave his consent for our daughter to travel with me. He had promised to return her passport before our travel and to attend to the necessary parental consent affidavit for her to leave South Africa.

“As a result of his promises, air tickets were booked and paid for and accommodation was arranged. Before our departure, he withdrew his consent, but provided no rational basis for doing so.”

She added that she had not only been deprived of the opportunity to be “cleansed spiritually”, but large sums had been wasted.

The woman sought relief from the courts so that her daughter would not be deprived of an important spiritual journey.