‘Misyar’ Approval Sends Business Booming

JEDDAH, 14 May 2006 — Business for professional matchmakers has risen by 60 percent in the Kingdom following the legalization of “misyar” (marriage without obligations), according to a local Arabic newspaper.

One reason why people resort to such secret but legal options is to avoid family responsibilities and others such as housing a woman and rearing her children.

Such marriages have grown in popularity in the business community, among educated people and among women with private income as well as with the poor. The increasing number of unmarried women is another reason why such marriages have become more acceptable, Al-Watan newspaper said yesterday.

It is very easy to get willing misyar brides and grooms. “This kind of marriage is popular because it needs only a room in a hotel or a rented apartment for a few hours or days. Having made the misyar contract, either one of the parties calls the other to fix the time and place where they should meet,” said Abu Muhammad Al-Yafei, a Jeddah-based professional matchmaker.

Following up the story of a couple of days ago, this Arab News article provides a somewhat different slant, that of a matchmaker. Worth reading the whole thing.