Achraf Hakimi & Hiba Abouk: What is marriage without trust?

Hiba Abouk’s seeking divorce with Achraf Hakimi made the headlines after it was reported that a 24-year-old woman filed a complaint against the Paris Saint-Germain full-back over a rape allegation.

Prior to the reported rape case, Hakimi and his Tunisian wife have been estranged for some time and have been working towards separating legally.

So, contrary to what most people opine on social media, it is not necessarily the age gap that brings about the break in trust, nor is it what pushed his mother to protect his assets for him, as most people believe.

Trust is a sacred ingredient in marriage, and when abused, every human being has the rights to leave that marriage. If the reason Hakimi’s wife filed for divorce is based on infidelity or any other associated case, this is a justifiable reason.

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And in the same vein, one must not ignore that she has the rights to demand for alimony and child support. Without women’s free labour (house chores, birthing, raising kids, and all emotional and physical labour) the marriage institution will collapse.

However, this is not an excuse for women to hinge their hopes on their husband’s assets. The situation between Hakimi and his wife portrays two lessons: first, know who you are getting married to and, secondly, why you are even getting married in the first place. And if there is another lesson, it must be that women must financially empower themselves.

The idea of getting into marriage for financial security often gives birth to exploitation from men.

Although most men are praising the footballer that he understood the game (of women’s seeking divorce after some time) and played it well, I think it only shows how manipulative he is. Why and how would you do something like that to someone you claim to love?

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Well, there is a possibility that Hakimi was using his mother’s account before he got into football and later decided to keep using it in his contacts and signing up into clubs before he met his wife, and it might not be easy to change. It seems that in Arab and Asian countries, an individual can have one account that every other person in the family uses.

But this situation can never be an excuse to exclude one’s wife, who, naturally, should be part of one’s immediate family. After wedding and during marriage, one’s wife is fundamentally a part of one’s immediate or closest family. And for all that is reasonable, just and noble, she comes first before every other person.