RIYADH, 30 June 2003 — In an unprecedented legal case, a young Saudi man is suing the father of a girl he had proposed to numerous times over the past eight years.
When a Riyadh court ordered the girl to appear and tell the judge her side of the story, she stated that she wanted to marry the young man but that her father would not allow her to.
Based on Islamic teachings that a girl should not be forced into a marriage and that a father does not have the right to prevent his daughter’s marriage, the court ruled that the father should give his approval, since both his daughter and the young man wanted to marry each other.
The girl’s father, however, remained unconvinced by the court’s decision and appealed for a further ruling at the Cassation Court.
After a month-long investigation, the court sent the case back to the ruling judge in the lower court, asking him to clarify three points in the ruling, according to Al-Watan.
One was: “Was the father unwilling to allow his daughter to marry the young man?” The court wanted to make sure it fully understood the father’s intentions.
For years, the young man had asked the girl’s father for permission to marry his daughter. The father refused every time, saying that his daughter did not accept the young man. The young man, however, knew that the refusal came from the father and not from her. He persisted, but the girl’s father rejected him every time.
After five years, the young Saudi went to the girl’s maternal uncle, hoping that he could convince the girl’s family to agree to his wishes.
The girl’s uncle had no objection to the young man and so both of them went to a nearby mosque to meet the girl’s father.
After praying, the girl’s uncle, the young man and two friends of the girl’s father began to try and persuade him to change his mind. They all pointed out that the young man was of good character and reputation and was prepared to bear all the costs of the wedding.
Finally in the presence of witnesses, the father agreed and said loudly: “You have my permission, I swear.”
The young man then responded: “And I have accepted.”
The father then asked the young man to visit his house with his parents to propose formally and become engaged.
The young man asked his father once again to accompany him to visit the girl’s father. His father agreed but because of so many refusals his mother declined to go and so his sister went in her place. There was an even bigger surprise this time, when instead of the father, the girl’s entire family refused his proposal — and so once again the two did not get engaged.
Three years passed. Then one day the young man was sitting with a group of his friends who were students of Shariah (Islamic law). When they asked him why he was so depressed, he told them the story of the girl he wanted to marry.
His friends informed him that if the incident he said had taken place in the mosque was true and that there were witnesses to it, according to Islam the girl could legally be his wife. They encouraged him to take the father of the girl to court and finally win the girl he has always wanted.
The case continues.
