The Culture Of Arab Marriage Relations

By Debra Gibson


The fundamental social unit in the world is the family. The wedding always starts any family. Different societies have their cultural means of initiating and conducting marriages. The Arab community is one of the few societies that have been able to maintain their traditional takes on marriages and below is info on maintaining Arab marriage.

Arranged nuptials are still on the practice among the Arabs. Here the man and the woman have no option of choosing the partners of their choice. This task is left to the parents. The sons parents want the best girl for their son and then approach the girls family who will decide whether that man is good for their daughter or not.

After the prospective bride and groom have been identified a marriage contract is drawn with all parties involved. The aim of this marriage contract is to smooth the nuptial in the event of a misunderstanding. The first item of discussion on the contract is the bride price. It is usually for the two families to agree upon. It is a gift of appreciation to the family of the bride.

Additionally and perhaps the most important of it all the contract outlines the roles of the bride and the groom in the household. The Arab society follows the traditional concepts of marriage where the husband is the head of the family and provider too. The wife is a homemaker who will ensure that the husband and the children are well taken care of by providing all that they need including good food.

A ceremony will always mark any marriage. In the service, people come together to enjoy the new bonding formed between these two individuals. The couples are also given some private time where the groom breaks the hymen of his bride. The blood stains are then displayed to the parents and the public too. This, however, has turned to be optional to many these days.

The matrimonial life is depicted by the submissive nature of the Arab wife. They are taught to respect their husbands and accept their decisions as the final say in any argument or matter in their house. It is the husband whether to agree or not to concern his wife working. Additionally, the man should be made aware of what the wife is doing or where she intends to go.

The Arabs are guided by the Quran that allows for a man to have up to 4 wives. A man may opt to get another wife if the first wife cannot conceive or if there is a chance of divorce that the couple may wish to avoid. The woman is expected to accept the co-wife though it is not common in many instances.

If a divorce occurs, the husband pays a divorce fee as stipulated in the contract of marriage. In addition to this, the husband has to keep on paying the wifes maintenance fee. Since the Arab culture does not allow women to stay alone, a divorced woman is expected to go and live with her parents or any other male family member while the children remain with the man.




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