Manama: A 90-year-old Saudi man was “forced” to remarry after his daughters and sons insisted he honoured their mother’s dying wish.
The bride, 53, was selected by the Fatees Al Thaqafi's five daughters who spent three months looking for the right wife for their father, local news site Sabq reported on Sunday.
The daughters did not want a young woman and looked for a mature woman who would be right for their father. They eventually found a childless widow in a remote village who accepted the marriage proposal. The father gave a 25,000 Saudi riyal (Dh24,500) dowry.
Al Thaqafi initially refused to remarry after his wife died earlier this year following a long illness. The couple had seven sons and five daughters. Even though his sick wife told him he should take a second wife, he refused and instead looked after her.
A large number of relatives and friends attended the marriage ceremony at a wedding hall in Taef in western Saudi Arabia.
“It was a highly intense ceremony,” Abdullah, the groom’s eldest son, said. “Emotions of happiness for our father mixed with strong feelings about our dead mother. We pray for our mother and wish our father contentment and success in his new life,” he said.
