Woman Filled for divorce after Husband Lifts her Veil

“Marriage is about love, not faces,” said a Saudi Arabian woman, who filed for divorce because she was upset after her husband lifted her veil to see her while she was sleeping; she was asked how she could have children without her husband ever seeing her face. The 50-year-old Saudi woman has followed the tradition of her native village near the south western Saudi city of Khamis Mushayt and kept her features veiled at all times.

She had never shown her face to her husband even though they have been married for 30-years. But the husband was finally overcome by curiosity and tried to lift his wife’s veil as she slept to take a look at her face. A veil is a garment that worn almost exclusively by women, that is intended to cover some part of the head and face.

The woman is upset after her husband lifted her veil to see her while she was sleeping. She has now filed for divorce. Her husband apologized for his mistake and promised never to do it again, but she remains firm in her stance on getting divorced. It is not the first example of Saudi husbands with wives forever shrouded in mystery.

Ali al-Qahtani’s wife was wearing a veil for almost 10 years of marriage and he tried to take it off, but his wife threatened to leave him if he did. She decided to stay only after he promised not to do it again.

All Saudi women wear a veil but only when they are in public. There are certain groups in Saudi Arabia who follow this custom even at home.

A variety of headdresses worn by Muslim women in accordance with hijab (the principle of dressing modestly) are sometimes referred to as veils. Many of these garments cover the hair, ears and throat, but do not cover the face. The khimar is a type of headscarf. The niqab and burqa are two kinds of veils that cover most of the face except for a slit or hole for the eyes. The Afghan burqa covers the entire body, obscuring the face completely, except for a grille or netting over the eyes to allow the wearer to see. The boushiya is a veil that may be worn over a headscarf; it covers the entire face and is made of a sheer fabric so the wearer is able to see through it.