Saudi law approves marriage with foreigners.
Law sets conditions for such marriages and SR100,000 fine for violators
By Nadim Kawach
Published Tuesday, June 28, 2011
The law allowed Saudis to have foreign spouses but stipulated that they need prior approval by a new government committee which could take up to three months to decide whether to agree or reject the request.
Under the law, the marriage must be in line with Islamic rules and the couple must be free of any serious diseases, should not be drug addicts and the age gap between them must not exceed 25 years.
After a lengthy debate on Monday, the Shura council, the Gulf Kingdom’s appointed parliament, ratified the law which gave Saudis the right to have spouses from the other members of the Gulf Cooperation Council.
A Saudi man or woman seeking to marry from outside the Kingdom or the GCC must submit an application to a government committee to be created shortly by the ministries of interior, foreign affairs, justice and social affairs. The committee also comprises representatives from the Saudi Human Rights Commission.
“After receiving the application, the committee will present its proposal to the minister of interior to decide on the application three months after it is submitted to the committee,” the official Saudi press agency said.
“Those who violate the new rules on the marriage of Saudis to non-Saudis or non-GCC citizens will be fined a maximum SR100,000 ($26,500) to be deposited with the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency and credited to the ministry of social affairs, which will allocate the funds to help Saudi men seeking to marry.”
Experts described the law as a policy turnaround in the conservative Moslem nation and reverses recent calls to introduce tougher curbs on mixed marriage.
They said the new law would help reverse an upward trend in the number of spinsters in Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter.
Official data showed Saudi Arabia had around 1.8 million unmarried national women above 30 years old and that their number could exceed four million in the next four years. Officials attributed the problem to the fact that many Saudi men prefer foreign wives despite the existing curbs due to the high wedding expenses and dowries demanded by national spouses.
Another reason is the high divorce rate among Saudis, standing at 18,000 cases in 2010, nearly 30 per cent of the total 60,000 marriages last year.
The new law is a reversal of a recent tendency by Riyadh to introduce harsher laws against mixed marriage
The Kingdom, which controls over 20 per cent of the world’s oil, already enforces controls governing the marriage of Saudis with foreigners.
Before it was ratified by Shura on Monday, the marriage law faced reservations from the country’s human rights groups, which had demanded the cancellation of the proposal to deprive those involved in mixed marriage from government loans because such a move will also affect the relatives of the spouse.
According to a Shura member, around 700,000 Saudi women are married to foreigners but their husbands and children are deprived of most government benefits granted to Saudis. The new law is expected to end this practice.
“The Shura is also considering a draft law to grant Saudi citizenship to foreign husbands of Saudi women if they meet specific terms,” Shura member Sadqa Fadel said, quoted by the Arabic language daily Almadina.
“These include the need to get children, the continuation of marriage for many years and the need for the foreign husband to prove his good intention towards his Saudi wife and to treat her nicely.”
The above article was published in an Emirati newspaper a few days ago.The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is noted for the implementation of some of the most bizarre rules in history. Many of them are not in line with Shariah or Islamic teachings at all. For years now it has been a well known fact that Saudi men have to be either divorced or 35 years old and above in order to wed a non Saudi woman. A Saudi woman on the other hand has to be 25 years old or above in order to marry a non Saudi man. She could marry a non Saudi man at the age of 21 years old provided that the man is her relative. I'm quite certain that this law still stands as is should a saudi marry a foreigner from a non GCC country.
The above article was published in an Emirati newspaper a few days ago.The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is noted for the implementation of some of the most bizarre rules in history. Many of them are not in line with Shariah or Islamic teachings at all. For years now it has been a well known fact that Saudi men have to be either divorced or 35 years old and above in order to wed a non Saudi woman. A Saudi woman on the other hand has to be 25 years old or above in order to marry a non Saudi man. She could marry a non Saudi man at the age of 21 years old provided that the man is her relative. I'm quite certain that this law still stands as is should a saudi marry a foreigner from a non GCC country.
The above law that has been implemented a few days ago allows Saudis to marry individuals within the GCC states only based on the premise that the GCC countries are muslim countries adopting the same culture and religion.Many memebers of the Shura council in other articles published were not happy with the implementation of this law as they believe men from other GCC states would come into Saudi as "gold diggers" simply to gain oil wealth and the benefits that the Saudi government offered to its citizens.
It shocks me that the place where Islam was born is the very same place where Islam is practiced incorrectly going completely against the Quraan and the life of the Prophet (saw). No where does it say that an Arab should marry an Arab. In fact in the Prophet (saw) last sermon he mentioned quite clearly that "All mankind is from Adam and Eve, an Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab nor a non-Arab has any superiority over an Arab; also a white has no superiority over black nor a black has any superiority over white except by piety and good action"
How can a government control a nation to such an extent that laws have to be implemented regarding who a citizen can marry or not.And yet the same decision makers go against the very same laws they have implemented to their nations by marrying foreign British, Canadian and American women.
Abeer is a colleague of mine who is from Eritrea. She wants to wed a Saudi man. They are both very happy with each other and the families are happy too,but the unfortunate part is that they have applied to the Saudi government to request permission and approval for their marriage. Its been five years now and they are battling to get this approval accepted. Thrice it has been rejected thus far for various different reasons each time. In the interim her mom passed away and as a couple they are losing hope of ever receiving a marriage approval.Like Abeer, there are thousands of Saudi men in the Kingdom who are married to foreign women but their marriages are not legally recognised in the country due to this approval process.The problems get worse when these illegal marriages produce kids. In Islam a woman is encouraged to marry a muslim man only. But he can be a muslim man from any country around the world irrespective of nationality or skin colour. A muslim man is also encouraged to marry a muslim woman but can marry a woman from the Christian or Jewish faith provided that they are residing within a muslim country. The reason for this is that Islam respects the people of the book simply because the Quraan has extensive verses about Isa (as) and many verses related to the prophet of the Jewish nation as well.The woman does not need to convert her religion provided that she is a practising Jew or Christian and that her kids will grow up following their fathers religion.This is the opinion of most of the Islamic theologians.The reason for this is that the man in most cultures is the head of the home and so naturally his kids would be following his faith. Islam does not allow women to marry Christian or Jewish men based on the premise that after marriage the kids would have to follow the husbands religion as he would be the head of the home and also because the Christian and Jewish faiths do not respect or view the Islamic religion with integrity as a religion of God.They do not believe at all in the Prophet Muhammed (saw). So naturally it would be very difficult for a Christian husband or a Jewish husband to allow his muslim wife to believe in one Allah and the prophet Muhammed (saw) as the final messenger of God, Almighty.
A woman may be married for four reasons: for her property, for her rank, for her beauty, and for her religion (and character), so marry the one who is best in the religion and character and prosper..as stated by the prophet Muhammed (saw).
Take note that the prophet (saw) emphasized character and religion. He did not emphasize on temporary materialistiic reasons for marriage. And yet what we see in today's society is quite the opposite where marriage has become a means of acquiring someones property or wealth or status. The basis or intention of marriage is wrong from the beginning so how can marriages be successful. Hence the shocking divorce rate within many muslim communities across the globe especially Saudi Arabia as quite rightly mentioned in the newspaper article above.
It amazes me how thousands of people can sit back, relax and stare whilst human beings who are far away from their Creator can simply hijack their religion and create new rules not to benefit society but to benefit themselves.The members of the Shura council who are against the new marriage laws simply because they are afraid of gold digger type suitors entering into the Kingdom have no concept of Islam in my opinion,for they fail to understand that the same creator who has given them oil wealth which was the dua and the prayer of Ebrahim(AS) is the very same creator who can dry up the oil fields within seconds leaving the country in a dismal array of financial ruin. When bizarre, nonsensical rules are implemented by ignorant individuals it is then that the world perceives the Islamic religion to be backward and out of touch with modern times. The character portrayed by almost all the rulers within the Islamic world is not even a pin drop to what an Islamic leaders character should be like. If each of these ruthless, wicked individuals who have done nothing but usurped the wealth of the country due to greed practiced their lifestyle according to the ways and mannerisms of the prophet Muhammed (saw) the Middle East would not be in such turmoil and disunity as we see today!!!!
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