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The parties were married on 1 March 2008, and had two children on 15 December 2008 and 12 December 2012. The first four years of their marriage were harmonious. At the beginning of 2013, however, the parties had begun to quarrel regularly. The plaintiff submitted that this was because the defendant:

1. had had an extra-marital affair with a work colleague, which she had surmised from the defendant's behaviour: notably, calling the woman in question late at night; and
2. had showed a lack of care for the plaintiff, often coming home late at night, despite having only worked until 5.00pm.

Each time the parties would argue about the defendant's duplicity, the defendant would promise to leave the woman in question, only to contact her again after a short while.

From January 2014, the defendant would seldom come home to the parties' matrimonial home, instead spending more time at his parents' home. Problems escalated at the end of November 2014 when the plaintiff learned from a friend of the defendant that he had married the woman with whom he was having the affair. The parties remained in the same house briefly, but separated properly not long after. Convinced the marriage was no longer tenable, the plaintiff requested the court grant her an irrevocable divorce (talak satu ba'in sughra).

While the defendant failed to attend both court sessions, upon the counsel of the court, the plaintiff chose to withdraw her application for divorce in an attempt to reconcile with the defendant.