Damascus: The First Sharia Judge of Damascus is a religious authority who presides over the six Islamic courts at the Palace of Justice — a post that rarely gets exposure in the media.

However, last week he became the talk of the town overnight when he ruled that Syrian men should take a second wife in order to help unmarried women make ends meet in times of war.

“A second marriage is one of the ways to deal with spinsterhood (or ‘unusah’ in Arabic; a term used in reference to an unmarried woman past the usual age for marriage)” said Judge Mahmud Maarawi.

A six-year civil war has seen hundreds of thousands of men die, thousands languishing in jail and millions flee the country in order to secure jobs abroad or avoid the military draft.

Syria’s population is now estimated at around 18 million, down from its pre-war population of 24 million — although no official figures have been released.

Woman now make up approximately 65 per cent of the population and millions of women are finding it increasingly difficult to find a husband.

Despite a slew of abusive attacks directed at him on social media, Maarawi defended his ruling as “a realistic approach” while admitting that it is a solution “women will not like”.

In Islam, a man is allowed to take four wives at the same time, if of course, he treats them equally and justly — a monumental responsibility that few men can live up to or dare to take on.

According to Akram Al Kash, dean of the Higher Institute for Population Studies, “Before the crisis, there was a steady rise in the marriage age of both sexes.

Women would be married, on average, by the age of 25 while men would be married by the age of 30.

After the civil war, the average went up to 35 years for women and 37 years for men.

Abu Al Huda Al Khatib, a Damascus-based cleric, added: “We support Maarawi. He said nothing that contradicts with the laws of Sharia. This is a major problem that we are facing and we need to deal with, seriously and boldly. We have women who are drifting into traditionally male dominated professions, like cab drivers and labourers. They need to get married and are finding a hard time doing so because of economic hardships and the shortage of men in society.”

As a result of the war, many women are delayed in getting married because men can no longer afford it, fleeing the country or fighting. Conversely, many families who can no longer afford to feed their female daughters have been forced to marry them off while they are still underage.

The situation in rebel-held areas is particularly dire due to the higher number of male deaths, disappearances and arrests.

Rebel leaders often gave sizeable stipends to men who marry widows or daughters of deceased fighters.