Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1875-09-09
Mohammedan Marriages.

iect of marriage. Wedding professions
are quite numerous; in single after
moons promenade in Cairo have seen as
many as half dozen. Naturally the
sight OF such a procession leads one to ask
about the marriage customs.
Among the Moslems marriages are gen
orally arranged by brokers, though not al
ways SO. There are some love matches in
which the parties become attached to each
other without the intervention of a third
party, but they are by no means common.
When man has reached the marrying
age he is expected to enter the matrimo-
NAL ranks unless prevented by poverty or
some other impeachment, and it is consid-
cred improper and even dishonorable for
him to refrain from SO doing If mar
riageable youth has a mother she de-
scribes to him the girls of her acquaint-
ance and enables him to decide whom to
take to his house and home. If he has no
mother, and frequently when he has one,
he engages a woman whose profession is
that Of " khatibeh,' or marriage broker
She has access to harems where there are
manageable women and is employed by
them quite as often as by the men. She
receives fees from one party and frequent
ly from both.
Observe the superiority of ChristendOm
over Islam. In our own country feminine
match-makers are numerous, but they
work without pay. The only reward they
expect or desire is the satisfaction of hav-
ing made two people happy-or misera-
bic. For the result of the marriages they
cause they generally care as little as do
their Moslem sisters.
The Moslem broker goes to the harems
accompanied by the mother or other fem
mime relatives of the young man; she in
PRODUCES them as ordinary visitors, but
gives sly hint as to the object of their
call. If they do not like the appearance
of the maiden they plead many calls to
make and cut short their stay; but if sat
isfied they come to business at once, and
ask how much property, personal and
otherwise, the young lady possesses.
When these facts are ascertained they de
part, with the intimation that they may
call again
1t is strange peculiarly o. Moslem
countries that a rich girl can find hus-
band more readily than can poor one.
/ am sure such d thing was never known
or heard of in England or America.
The young man hears the report Of the
broker, and if satisfied he sends her again
to the harem to state his prospects in life
and give personal description of him
self The broker is not particular to con-
fine herself to facts, and INDUCES in that
hyperbole for which the Orient is famed.
Her client may be very ordinary youth,
with no property of cOnseqU ence, and
whom she has never seen three times in
her life. She strikes an attitude before
the maiden and says:
Oh my daughter, he has heard of you,
and his heart is heavy for love Of you. He
is handsome as the moon, and his eyes
sparkle like the stars; he has a form and
figure which all the world envy, and he has
wealth surprising all that Aladdin's lamp
could bestow. He will buy the finest
house in Cairo; you will be his thought
by day and his dream by night, and his
whole time will be devoted to loving and
caressing you"
1t is customary for parents to obtain a
daughters consent to a marriage, but not
at all necessary, and very often is consid-
q fpif
Sometimes the father interferes when he
discovers that the proposed husband is
poor or has a bad temper; any slight OBJ
lection of this sort makes paterf60aSIdas
whimsical, and serves as a stumbling
block. He frequently insists thata young
er daughter shall not marry before an eld-
er one, and sometimes the broker de-
scribes young and charming maiden to
the anxious youth, while she negotiates
the match for her elder and less-at-
tractiye sister. If he subsequently COM
plains she assures him that it is ali in the
family, and says he can Imagine that he
has welded the beauty by wedding her
sister
Among the middle and upper classes
the man never sees the face of his bride
until the marriage ceremony is concluded.
This excellent custom greatly facilitates
business, as it does away with any absurd
notions he may have about beauty.
When the preliminaries are settled the
bridegroom calls upon the girls weel1el,"
or deputy, and concludes the contract.
This deputy is her nearest male relative or
her guardian, and his special duty is to fix
the terms of the dowry which the husband
is to pay. This varies according to the
wealth and position of the parties; the
least sum allowed by law is equal to about
five English shillings, and this is indis-
pensable. Among respectable tradesmen
and people Of The middle classes fifty or
seventy-fve dollars will suffice, and there
is almost always great deal of haggling
before the amount of the dowry is fixed.
From the necessity of paying something
to the brides family the youths not I'M
naturally speak of marriage as buying
wife" A donkey driver whom occa-
slonally employed in Cairo used to dis
course upon the matter as follows: 4" save
money for buy wife When I save three