JEDDAH, 14 November — Relatives and friends failed to convince a bride who had retreated to the house of her father to return to her wedding in Madinah after she ran away in protest at her bridegroom’s refusal to pay for the hired musicians.
The wedding party was proceeding as planned when, after dinner for the male guests was over, the bridegroom went to the female section, where a musical troupe was entertaining the bride and her guests.
He told his bride that the troupe was very expensive, as they were charging SR10,000 and the dowry he had provided would not cover their fee.
The bride demanded that he therefore provide her with a higher dowry. He refused; she was incensed — and her bridegroom’s subsequent protest that he had merely been joking failed to placate her.
The bridegroom plans to approach the Shariah court to tell the bride’s father that she should come back to live with him — or at least return the dowry money and all the expenses lost in a useless marriage.
