Nikah Misyar: Encyclopedia II - Nikah Misyar - Misyar Marriage in practice

Nikah Misyar - Misyar Marriage in practice

The practice of Misyar marriage is often different from the original intent for creating this institution. Wealthy Kuwaiti and Saudi men sometimes enter into a Misyar marriage while on vacation. This allows them to have sexual relations with another woman without committing the sin of zina.

They travel to poor countries, such as Egypt or Syria, and meet middlemen who arrange a marriage for them. Some men arrange Misyar marriages online. The middleman brings some girls and they pick the one that they like most. These men pay the girl's family some money.

Some Egyptian men working in the Gulf countries prefer to engage in the misyar marriage rather than live alone for years. Many of them are actually already married with wives and children in their home country, but they cannot bring them.

A reporter in Jeddah has reported that some marriage officials say seven of 10 marriage contracts they conduct are misyar, and in some cases are asked to recommend prospective misyar partners. Most of the women opting for misyar either are divorced, widowed or beyond the customary marriage age. The majority of men who take part in such marital arrangements are already married.

Arab News surveyed 30 Saudi men and women aged 20-40 regarding misyar marriage. Over 60 percent of the men surveyed would consider misyar marriage for themselves with the majority of the respondents in their 20s. Those who would not consider it for themselves would not allow it for kin, be it sisters, brothers, sons or daughters. However, among the men who would consider it themselves, only two would find such a marriage acceptable for a female relative.

Families agree to the arrangement because of the money and the hope that their girl will have some fun and visit places that she can only dream about (i.e. luxury hotels and restaurants). They also hope for some gifts and at the end of the vacation that the rich "husband" will give her some money and divorce her (although divorce was not a part of the fatwa which created Misyar marriage). Sometimes the husband keeps the wife for his next vacation and sends her some money now and then. Many Misyar wives hope to win the love of their husbands so that they may live with them permanently. Since the wife knows that she will most likely be divorced, but she does not know when, most Misyar wives take care to prevent pregnancy.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Misyar Marriage in practice", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki