Saudi men now allowed to see future brides

Press, 27 May 1981, Page 18

Saudi men now allowed to see future brides

By Aly Mahmoud of the Associated Press through NZPA, Mecca After 14 centuries of scrupulous adherence to an Islamic orthodoxy which keeps females hidden behind veils and segregated from males in school and on the job,'Saudi Arabia has bent at least one of its restrictive customs. The country’s clergy ruled recently that society was unfair to impose the practice of blind marriage, which meant that men got their first glimpse of their future wives at “Zaffah,” the marriage ceremony. A committee of learned interpreters of the Koran ruled that women may unveil their faces to prospective bridegrooms once the engagement formalities are firm. “Any man forbidding his daughter or sister from meeting her fiance face-to-face will be judged as sinning,” the ruling said. If accepted, the ruling will end an ancient practice of marrying blind. Because of the practice, men have depended on their mothers or sisters to look for prospective wives for them. |

The mother of the wouldbe groom initiates the process with a visit to the family, of the chosen girl. There" the mother offers the girl hard nuts, insisting she crack them with her teeth — to make sure the girl has good, strong teeth. If the mother is clever and glib, she might get a photograph of the girl surreptiously, and show it to her son.

If the mother's role proves difficult, a professional khatbeh, or matchmaker, takes over. “Islam recognises the legitimacy of proposers seeing their prospectives wives.” the Directorate of Fatwa and Guidance announced. It also ruled that forcing women into marriage was a practice devoid of any religious basis. Young Saudi men and women are rejoicing. Their

elders appeared reluctant to accept the new rulings. “If the Koran says so then it must be correct,” said Mu'sayel Al-Hindi. a Meccan taxi-driver and father of four teen-aged girls,. “To to tell you the truth, this all will go against the principles we inherited from our fathers and grandfathers.”