Cultural Practices In Arab Marriage

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.

Marriage is viewed as an agreement of union between two families. It is for this reason that a marriage contract is established between them. Of the many items that may be found in a marriage contract is the pride price. It is usually a gift from the grooms family to the bride as an appreciation sign for giving them their daughter, and its value depends on the two families understanding.

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 religion followed by the Arabs (Islam) favors polygamy in marriage. Several reasons may call for the husband to think of marrying another wife. It is always expected that the relationship between co-wives is that if love and understanding. This is rarely the case as they always dislike one another in most cases.

In the event of a divorce, the wife is supposed to go back to her parents house or any other male family member since the Arab culture does not allow any woman to live alone. The children are, however, left with the father. The husband is expected to provide maintenance fee still to the family, and a divorce fee is also paid with regards to the marriage contract.




About the Author:



No comments:

Post a Comment