Religious leaders in Singapore and Malaysia say Muslim men can use text messages to tell their wives they want a divorce.
They say the declaration would be valid under Islamic law.
The couple would then have to go to the Syariah (Islamic Law) Court to confirm the message was sent by the husband.
"Declaring a desire to divorce via SMS has the same effect as through a letter - this goes for declarations through the telephone and e-mail," the Mufti of the Kuala Lumpur Federal Territory, Datuk Hisham Yahya, said.
"The validation from the Syariah Court is important to make sure that the divorce declaration was done by the husband and not someone else, as well as to make sure that the husband intended to divorce his wife."
The issue of a Muslim making a divorce declaration via SMS was apparently started by an impatient man in Dubai who sent a text message to his wife saying: "You are divorced because you are late."
The couple have been reunited after a Dubai court ruled he had failed to repeat the declaration the required three times.
Under Islamic law, a man who wants a separation must first make the declaration - 'I divorce thee' - three times before going to a Syariah Court.
PA