In a surprising development, Sheikha Mahra bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, daughter of Dubai’s ruler, has announced her divorce on her verified Instagram account. The post reads: “I hereby declare our divorce.” The BBC has contacted officials in the country for further information.
Neither Sheikha Mahra’s husband, Sheikh Mana bin Mohammed bin Rashid bin Mana Al Maktoum, nor her father have responded to the announcement.
The Instagram post, starting with “Dear Husband,” ends with the emphatic statement: “I divorce you, I divorce you, and I divorce you.” This echoes the Islamic practice known as triple talaq, which has been banned in several countries. Traditionally, husbands can swiftly divorce their wives by saying “I divorce you” three times.
Sheikha Mahra’s account no longer features any images of her husband, and Sheikh Mana’s account has similarly removed pictures of his wife. The couple, who married in April 2023 in a grand ceremony, recently welcomed their first child.
There is speculation among Instagram users that Sheikha Mahra’s account might have been hacked. However, there is no official confirmation of this. As of now, the post announcing her divorce remains visible a day after it was posted.
One of the daughters of Dubai’s ruler has publicly declared her intention to seek a divorce on Instagram, marking Sheikha Mahra bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum as the latest princess of the emirate to challenge the norms of her country and her father, the Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates and ruler of Dubai.
“I hereby declare our divorce,” wrote Mahra, the daughter of Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. “I divorce you, I divorce you, and I Divorce You. Take care. Your ex-wife.”
By repeating the phrase “I divorce you” three times, the princess appeared to reference the controversial practice of triple talaq. Under Sunni Islamic law, triple talaq allows a Muslim man to divorce his wife by saying talaq—the Arabic word for divorce—three times. The man does not need to provide a reason or obtain his wife’s consent.
In the UAE, Islamic law governs marriage and divorce proceedings for Muslim couples, as well as for couples where the man is Muslim and the woman is non-Muslim. Non-Muslim expatriate couples, however, have the option of seeking a divorce in their home country or petitioning the court to apply their home country’s laws in the UAE.
Under sharia law, women typically receive a dowry—mahr in Arabic—from their husband or his family upon marriage. Once a woman returns the mahr, she can legally obtain a separation called khula.
Mahra married Sheikh Mana bin Mohammed bin Rashid bin Mana Al Maktoum, also a member of the UAE’s royal family, in a glamorous ceremony last May. The couple welcomed a daughter less than three months ago.
In her Instagram post, Mahra suggested her husband had been unfaithful, saying he was “occupied with other companions.” Her apparent use of triple talaq diverges from its typical application, as it is traditionally men who invoke talaq under Islamic law.
Mahra is not the first female relative of Sheikh Mohammed to challenge the emirate’s norms. Her sister, Sheikha Latifa, has described their father as a “major criminal” responsible for imprisoning disobedient women. Latifa fled Dubai, as reported by the New Yorker last May. Although the UAE’s Prime Minister has promoted gender equality publicly, Latifa viewed Dubai as repressive for women, even as the ruler’s daughter.
Latifa is one of at least two Dubai princesses who attempted to escape their family by fleeing the emirate, according to The Washington Post in 2019.
Sheikh Mohammed also had a prolonged and contentious international custody battle with his sixth wife, Princess Haya Bint Hussein. Hussein sought asylum in Germany in 2019 and ultimately went into hiding in London, fearing for her life after fleeing her husband. The Prime Minister has at least 20 children with at least six wives.
In the UAE, a Muslim woman is not legally permitted to marry a non-Muslim man without proof of his conversion. A Muslim man is allowed to marry a non-Muslim woman and can have up to four wives, provided he offers “equal sustenance and equal treatment to all,” according to the government website.
Since Mahra’s announcement, both she and Sheikh Mana appear to have removed all photos of each other from their respective Instagram pages.
