The phrase “love is blind” still applies. A marriage between an American and a Muslim can work. The woman may need to give up Western ways though. The husband can be pretty much what he wants to be, that includes being a junkie. The laws in Saudi Arabia are much different than the United States. Bethany Vierra found out the hard way that no, love doesn’t conquer all. At least not in Saudi Arabia.
The male can be a junkie
The male in Sharia law can do a lot. A woman is more like property in this culture. Bethany moved from Washington state to Saudi Arabia to be with her Muslim husband, a successful businessman.
The marriage lasted long enough for the couple to have a four year old daughter. When Bethany filed for divorce she found she wasn’t in Kansas anymore. In the United States, the outcome might have been the opposite.
The junkie gets the child by default
The judge actually thought neither parent was worthy of raising the child but a loophole was found, ultimately putting the little girl in the ex-husband’s care by awarding custody to the mother-in-law. Mother and son live together.
Although there was video evidence of the husband doing drugs in front of the daughter, the Muslim man showed the judge a picture of Bethany in a bikini. Several other pictures were shown of her being uncovered or in close fitting outfits such as yoga pants. It didn’t matter that the pictures were taken in the United States on a private social media account. The ex dug these up to support his side.
The junkie is listened to
Because he’s the male. It also didn’t matter that he screamed abusively in front of their little girl and talked of drugs. It’s classic that blame is deflected to others in the case of abuse. The ex alleged Bethany ordered him to take the drugs.
The junkie was upset she didn’t speak Arabic and he thought she was too Westernized to be a good influence to their daughter. Islamic parenting is valued there over everything else.
Mom plans to continue fighting
Mrs. Vierra isn’t being heard, “It’s videos versus male witnesses. They wouldn’t in some cases even look at the evidence that I had. It was just completely disregarded because he ‘swore to God.’ It’s all been infuriating.” The daughter, Zeina, is scared and confused. Mom assured her she’d keep fighting for her.
Bethany certainly isn’t the only one and it’s been happening for years. She spoken to other ladies experiencing this. “This is not just my story — there’s much worse. It’s hard to believe stuff like this can happen.”
