Muslim superstition and sharia law: A court in Dubai has granted a divorce to a man who says that his wife is possessed by spirits and refuses to have sex with him

After persistently denying him sex, the woman finally told her husband to discuss the issue with her parents. They told the man that his wife was, in fact, possessed by a jinn, and that several religious scholars had unsuccessfully tried to exorcise the spirit. Upon hearing this, the husband lodged a divorce case with the Dubai Sharia Court. His lawyer told a hearing: "The woman and her family cheated my client. They should have been honest and clear about the fact that the wife was possessed by a jinn. He was only told about the jinn after the problem escalated. The woman does not deserve any allowance." In Arabic mythology, jinns - or genies - are spirits able to take human and animal forms and to exercise supernatural influence over humans. The court awarded the husband the divorce, but asked him to pay around 40,000 dirhams (almost 11,000 US dollars or 6,800 UK pounds) in maintenance to his ex-wife. The Dubai Appeal Court later upheld the divorce, but cancelled the alimony. It decided that the woman does not deserve it since she was not honest about the djinn issue.