CAIRO — Recently released statistics from the Family Court affiliated with the Supreme Judicial Council, with offices across all governorates in Egypt, revealed that 6,500 women had filed for divorce, or "khula" — separation and returning the dowry to the husband — in 2015 over their husbands' "atheism or change of belief."
According to Article 3 of the Personal Status Law No. 1 of 2000, rulings with regard to divorce and separation cases are issued in accordance with either this law or the Islamic jurisprudence of Imam Abu Hanifa al-Nu’man in cases where the text of the law is not clear. Under this school of jurisprudence, a married Muslim woman has the right to obtain a divorce in the event that her husband has renounced his faith.