RIYADH, 1 March 2008 — Some loopholes in the current system governing the issue of marriage certificates by Shariah courts in the Kingdom enable illegally married couples to get legal marriage certificates.
Abdul Mohsen Al-Obaikan, legal adviser to the Ministry of Justice, pointed out this vulnerable spot in the law, Al-Watan newspaper reported yesterday.
Obaikan said 95 percent of the illegal marriages fall under the category of “misyar”, a so-called “no obligation” marriage of convenience where a woman forfeits rights (unless otherwise stipulated in the contract) and marries a man as a “no obligation” wife.
Obaikan blames marriage brokers for “exploiting the loopholes in the law” to arrange illegal marriages.
“Their websites claim that they would arrange and complete such illegal marriages within 24 hours,” the legal adviser said.
It was recently reported that an expatriate marriage broker in Jeddah used to get about 121,000 visits a day on his website requesting information on misyar marriages.
“The judge is committed to issue the legal marriage certificate even if it is conducted by an unlicensed person,” Obaikan said while answering a question on how some couples manage to get legal marriage certificates from Shariah courts even though their marriages are conducted illegally with the help of some imams or religious scholars.
Obaikan demanded that the marriage brokers who help people to marry illegally be punished. But he added that currently there was no legal provision to prosecute such violators.
He explained that despite the Justice Ministry’s orders stipulating premarital medical checkup for intending couples the judges have no option but to issue the marriage certificate if the marriage was conducted in the presence of the guardian of the marrying woman and the witnesses without a medical checkup.
Several people prefer the misyar marriage because it could be conducted without the approval of anyone other than the couple and without any questions about the nationality of the parties.
This marriage also gives full freedom to a husband from the responsibilities of a married life such as feeding and providing home or caring for the wife and children.
This type of marriage is illegal from a religious point of view as it does not fulfill the religious demands that a husband should look after his wife, provide her with a home and should not deny the right to bear children.
According to Ibrahim Al-Dosary, a Riyadh-based marriage registrar, a couple remarrying after divorce need not undergo the medical check.
