JEDDAH, 22 March 2006 — You know the stock-market bug has penetrated deep into society when you hear a story like the one told by Ahmad Al-Omari about a young groom that paid his dowry by electronically transferring SR30,000 worth of shares from his stock portfolio to the one belonging to his bride-to-be.
This is just one of many of society’s benchmark indicators that can be observed when one is a professional matchmaker like Al-Omari, who is engaged, if you will, in the process of finding compatible couples.
This 36-year-old matchmaker seems filled with many odd anecdotes culled from his career. The story about the stock-transfer dowry came from a wedding Al-Omari conducted three months ago.
“The bride might have a hard time trying to revive her shares, especially after the recent stock market fall,” he said with a smile.
Al-Omari said that he has officiated more than 200 marriages in his three years as a marriage official and matchmaker.
The very first marriage contact he authenticated was for a mute and deaf couple. Both of them were educated and knew how to communicate through sign language, he said. Both of them answered the official marriage requirement questions by writing.
“It was an interesting experience. They both seemed determined to make the relationship work as normal as they could,” he said.
One of the strangest requests Al-Omari received came from a 60-year-old businesswoman who wanted a 25-year-old single handsome man. “She was offering SR2 million for the man of her dreams,” he said. But there was a catch: The contract would stipulate that the young stud couldn’t marry another woman.
Al-Omari said he has yet to find a willing young man for her.
The match that Al-Omari says he’s most proud of involved a young woman who was deaf, mute and mentally ill. He said that her parents wanted her to get married in order to make her feel that she was normal. Al-Omari said that he managed to find a 45-year-old man who was willing to marry and take care of her. “They got married last year and they are leading a good life,” he said.
The highest dowry he ever officiated was a villa, a car and SR500,000 in cash. The groom was 45 and the bride was 19. Her demands didn’t end with the pre-nuptial goods. She wanted a pre-nuptial agreement, too, of SR300,000 in the event of divorce.
The lowest dowry he ever witnessed was one riyal. These types of symbolic dowries are common in marriages between cousins, but often include four-digit pre-nuptial agreements that make divorce considerably more expensive.
The average dowry in Jeddah, he said, ranges between SR20,000 and SR30,000 but in some rare cases it goes up or down depending on the age of the groom and his monetary status.
Divorce, he said, is also a growing problem.
“More than 20 percent of the marriages I have authenticated ended up in divorce,” he said.
One of the marriages he authenticated that ended up in a divorce was that of a 50-year-old woman who got hitched to a 20-year-old man. “Somehow I felt that they would end up in divorce, as the age difference was so big, which would mostly lead to lack of understanding,” he said.
Al-Omari, who is also a high school teacher, said that there are over 350 marriage officials in Jeddah. They all work voluntarily under the supervision of the Ministry of Justice and the Marriage Court. They are licensed under special tests and specifications. They can be reached in mosques or by advertisements.
“As marriage officials we are only allowed to register marriages of Saudis,” he said. Non-Saudis must register their marriages in the Marriage Court.
He said that he is planning to establish a website for matchmaking not only for Saudis but also for expatriates as well. The site would include numbers of marriage officials and information regarding the regulations of marriage in the Kingdom.
