The parties were married on 21 July 1998 and had four children. The plaintiff submitted that the first 16 years of the parties' marriage had been harmonious but, since December 2014, it had become quarrelsome because the defendant:
Problems then escalated in August 2016 when the plaintiff learned that the defendant had married another woman. As a result, the parties had been sleeping in separate beds, and, the plaintiff submitted, that the most feasible option available to the parties was irrevocable divorce (talak ba'in sughra). After receiving counsel from the court, however, the plaintiff opted to withdraw her application, while both parties said they would endeavour to reconcile their differences.