JEDDAH, 20 December — Faced with a growing problem of many young people unable to marry as a result of high dowries and other costly requirements, the Kingdom is taking the issue to the consultative body for a general debate.
Expensive dowries and wedding costs have left thousands out of the legal union. While many women remain unmarried, young men are seeking to marry from outside the country where families are less interested in down-payments for their daughters’ hands.
The Saudi population stood at 22 million in 2000. Some 16.2 million or 73.6 percent of them are Saudis and the rest foreigners, mostly expatriate workers and their families, according to a recent report by the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency.
Starting from next week the Shoura Council will begin debating the high cost of marriage in a series of sessions that would seek the views of religious scholars as well as male and female sociologists.
The objective is to listen to the views of the experts and seek their advice on the problem and recommend solutions.
Officials and the ulema have joined hands in an effort aimed at convincing the people to shun established marriage practices and encourage change to help more and more young men start a new life.
Many who plan a marriage resort to borrowing to meet the high cost thus burdening themselves with financial obligations. Sociologists blame this and other factors, especially polygamy, for the soaring divorce rates.
Recent studies indicate that divorce rates have risen sharply in the past decade to the extent that around a quarter of marriages end in separation.
On Saturday the Islamic Affairs Committee of the Shoura Council will open the debate on the high cost of marriage by first inviting a group of male scholars and experts to give their views on the matter. On Monday the committee will invite female experts to join the discussion via a closed circuit camera.
In cities across the Kingdom local committees have been set up to help solve the problem by offering assistance in cash and kind and by encouraging mass weddings to reduce the cost. Just recently 1,500 young men and women were able to tie the knot in a mass marriage arranged by a local charity in Jeddah in the presence of Makkah Governor Prince Abdul Majeed. The charity has so far helped more than 21,000 youths to get married and has spent over SR200 million on the project.
The tradition is gaining popularity in different parts of the country. In the Eastern Province, charity committees offer additional incentives. A bridegroom is required to contribute only SR10,000 toward the cost. If two brothers applied at the same time they pay SR8,000 only for both of them.
While seeking alternative means to facilitate marriage, the country has to grapple with the problem of the increasing divorce rate. Polygamy is blamed for up to 55 percent of all divorces.
Courts approve between 25 and 35 divorces a day, an annual average of more than 12,000 cases, according to one study. Most divorces occur during the first three years of marriage and a majority of divorced women were below 20 at the time of their marriage.
To meet the growing expenses of marriages, many resort to borrowing, mortgaging property or buying household appliances on credit. In some cases property is sold to secure the money as in the case of a man in the southern city of Abha who auctioned his three-story home for SR300,000, half its actual price, to marry a 16-year-old girl.
This, however, is not the case always. A father in the same city set a model recently by marrying off his two daughters for only SR10 as dowry for each.
A study by a university professor has shown that nearly half the young men in the Kingdom opt for marrying close relatives — a tradition encouraged by parents. The trend is, however, fast changing among educated young men who prefer a wife from outside the family, said Dr. Ibrahim Al-Obeidi, head of King Saud University’s Department of Social Studies.
A new type of family life known as "weekend marriage" is gaining. Viewed as acceptable and convenient by some and valid from a religious point of view, this kind of marriage allows both the man and woman to meet only on weekends — a condition stipulated in the marriage contract.
The responsibilities of husband and wife are also limited proportionately, allowing them more freedom. Unlike normal marriages, it is generally conducted at private ceremonies and often not made public. Many therefore reject the practice outright. Even here failures do happen with some women complaining of being unhappy and contemplating divorce for various reasons.
