Islam is a just religion enjoining justice upon both males and females in society.

There is a provision in the law for the husband to give custody of the children to the mother, but in many cases, men refuse to do so especially if the woman is a foreigner.

Mothers have the right to meet their children once a week or twice a month according to court orders.

This year, before the end of Ramadan, 24 women filed cases of injustice against their husbands in local courts while 10 men filed cases against their wives for similar injustices.

According to reports in local media, there were a total of 1,377 complaints against men in 18 courts for allegedly violating the provisions of Shariah law pertaining to marriages; 182 cases of preventing women from meeting their children; around 345 complaints for unsettled issues of marriage contracts including giving a house to the wife, the rights of the wife, alimony and child care. In addition, there were 382 cases of divorce registered with the courts.

Sultana Tithee, a Saudi woman, told Arab News that she had obtained a divorce five years ago from her Saudi husband, who has two wives and several children.

Tithee said that she had a son from this husband but following the divorce, a Saudi court ordered the son to stay with his father. “He was only four years old at the time and needed me more than his father,” she said, adding that he was the only support of her life.

She said that her husband did not want to give back her son which was very selfish of him as he had other sons too. “However, I bear this with the hope that when my boy turns 18 he will be able to make his own choice and come back to me,” she said. “For now, I have permission to met my son once a month or twice a month on request,” she added.

Tithee said that she had filed a case against her husband after she came to know that he wasn’t taking good care of her son, so this time he denied her the right to meet with him.

This is not an isolated case. Many times, the father prevents the mother from seeing her son as an act of revenge and after that they totally neglect the child leaving the responsibility of his care to the maids.

“A meeting with the child once a week or twice a month is not enough to teach good moral qualities or to bring him up as a good citizen. Children need proper guidance throughout their childhood and adolescence and a lack of it causes many children to grow up as disturbed individuals,” she pointed out.

Meanwhile, the Riyadh courts registered almost 99 divorce cases followed by Jeddah with 71, Madinah with 39 and 41 cases in the Eastern Province during the month of Ramadan.

In addition, there were almost 91 complaints of denial of alimony registered in the Riyadh courts, 79 in Jeddah, 41 in the Eastern region and 31 in Makkah while the complaints for child custody numbered 85 cases in Riyadh; 98 in Jeddah; 41 in Makkah and 38 in the Eastern Province.