Chief Islamic justice says department to open three new alimony fund offices

AMMAN — Chief Islamic Justice Abdul Kareem Khasawneh has announced that the Chief Islamic Justice Department (CIJD) will open alimony fund offices for divorced women in Irbid, Maan and Zarqa, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Khasawneh made the remarks during a seminar on the Personal Status Law amendments, which was organised by the Society of Thought, Dialogue and Development in the Irbid Chamber of Commerce on Saturday.

The alimony fund aims to enable divorced women to support themselves and their children in cases where the ex-husband is unable to provide alimony or has fled, Khasawneh said. 

He underlined that the fund had been established but needs a department and a budget, adding that it currently has 25 employees and only operates in Amman. 

The temporary personal status law aimed to preserve family cohesion and achieve more justice for its members, while addressing some legislation that deprived children and wives of their rights, he added.

He said that the amended law is a summary of the intellectual efforts of the Kingdom's scholars as it concerns each family. Khasawneh added that the CIJD is among the oldest religious and legal institutions in the Kingdom, and its laws are derived from the Ottoman jurisprudence magazine according to the Imam Abu Hanifa, or "Hanafi" madhhab (school of Islamic jurisprudence). 

He explained that the law has entered its constitutional stages, after it was endorsed by the Lower House and referred to the Senate, adding that the law is likely to be approved in its final form during the current parliamentary session.