Region | Egypt
Controversial marriage proves convenient option
Hameeda, 43, is one of very few women in this conservative Muslim country who are ready to think of getting married the misyar (travellers') way.
- By Ramadan Al Sherbini, Correspondent
- Published: 22:48 July 2, 2009
Cairo: Hameeda, 43, is one of very few women in this conservative Muslim country who are ready to think of getting married the misyar (travellers') way.
"My father died more than 20 years ago and I had to support my six-member family. So I forgot about myself. Now it may be the time to get married before the train of age reaches its final station," she said.
In a society where unmarried women are underestimated and even socially stigmatised, the misyar marriage may be the solution available to people in my circumstances, added Hameeda, who declined to give her full name for fear of being disgraced for approving this controversial marriage.
The Islamic Research Centre, an influential arm of Al Azhar (a prestigious institution of Sunni Islam) has decreed that misyar marriage is halal.
In a misyar marriage, the wife willingly waives the rights to live with her husband in a house provided by him and to get alimony when they are divorced.
This marriage complies with the basic pillars of marriage in Sharia, said Mahmoud Ashour, a Muslim cleric at Al Azhar.
Ashour contends that the fatwa (a religious edict) legalising misyar does not glorify or encourage it. Historically, misyar was adopted as an option for men who travelled extensively.
There are around nine million unmarried women over 30 in Egypt, according to official statistics.
High costs of marriage, compounded by economic woes, are blamed for aborting many marriage plans.
This type of marriage may be halal, but it is not the best solution to marriage-related problems in our society, said Amna Noseir, a professor of Islamic philosophy at Al Azhar University in Cairo.
It encourages men to shirk responsibility for building and supporting a family permeated by warm feelings.
Instead of creating a new problem from this marriage, families should cut marriage costs, Noseir told Gulf News.
The fatwa licensing misyar, meanwhile, drew an angry response from pro-women groups in Egypt. Misyar undermines family values by encouraging depravity and facilitates multiple marriages, said the Egyptian Centre for Womens Rights, a non-governmental group.
This marriage also strips women of their rights and reduces this sacred bond to a mere sex-based liaison.
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