Woman Between Islam and Western Society
8. Concerning Divorce
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immediate separation. In spite of severe mental
torture he tried to bear with this situation for ten
years. He refers to this period as one of “darkest
despair.” Finally he had to separate and remarry,
but he was not satisfied even with the second match
and he married for a third time. Two divorces were
a costly bargain. According to English law, the
amount of alimony and maintenance he had to pay
his wives upset him greatly. He writes in his
Autobiography:
... the financial burden was heavy and rather
disturbing: I had given Pounds 10,000 of my
Nobel Prize cheque for a little more than
Pounds 11,000 to my third wife, and I was
now paying alimony to her and to my second
wife as well as paying for the education of my
younger son. Added to this, there were heavy
expenses in connection with my elder son’s
illness; and the income taxes which for many
years he had neglected to pay now fell to me
to pay.
4
Such a law had been passed in order to ensure
justice for women who had to resort to divorce. But
