JEDDAH, 10 June 2006 — Ah, the lovely “misyar” marriage arrangement bubbles up again in the local media. This particular form of marriage allows men to take a second wife with no legal obligations, an arrangement that is notorious among first wives (the misyar marriage is often concealed from them) it allows husbands to have an ostensibly guilt-free second source of sexual pleasure and female companionship without the risk of expensive divorces from the second wife. This time, the daily Al-Madinah reported that a handicapped Saudi woman turned down a misyar proposal from a married Saudi man. She said that she had too much dignity to become a cheap object of sexual pleasure for a married man. Samar Haneefa, director of the Center of the Disabled Children’s Association in Jeddah, said the incident took place at her center. “The majority of girls at our center have refused to accept misyar marriage,” she told the paper.
