Iraqis looking to marry find the time is right
By Sabah al-Anbaki and Beth Potter, USA TODAY
BAGHDAD ? Iraq is a dangerous place. But not all the shooting at night is hostile. Much of the noise on weekends comes from wedding celebrations, where the joyful firing of weapons is a tradition.
Though firm national statistics aren't available, the number of marriages each month is believed to have increased at least 20% since the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime ? and by some estimates has almost doubled. Violence doesn't seem to have dampened the trend. Thursday, as fighting raged in Fallujah and a car bomb went off in Baghdad, hundreds of people lined up outside the al-Karakh courthouse in western Baghdad to file marriage contracts.
The Family Court judge there, Shaker Mahmoud al-Najar, says the court approves about 20 to 30 marriage contracts a day, about double prewar numbers.
The reasons have little to do with love. Experts say an increase in government salaries and an end to compulsory military service, which frees more young men for marriage, are behind the spike.
Most unions are arranged by families. In Iraq's deeply religious society, where most young men and women cannot date without a father or brother present, marriage offers the lure of an independent life. A contract is essentially an agreement that the future husband has money to support a family.
Akil Abbas, 24, is an auto repairman in eastern Baghdad who plans to get married to a woman his mother selected. Business at the repair shop is good; the number of cars in Baghdad has tripled. On some days, he says, he earns $50. Government salaries are about $150 a month, a sharp increase over prewar levels.
"She told me we will marry once I buy the bedroom furniture," Abbas says of his future bride. "She is not that demanding."
Abbas says marriage is not about love. "I don't have time for such tales," he says. "My mother said if you marry, you will be on the right path, and Allah will bless you."
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Looks like optimism reigns in Iraq.
By Sabah al-Anbaki and Beth Potter, USA TODAY
BAGHDAD ? Iraq is a dangerous place. But not all the shooting at night is hostile. Much of the noise on weekends comes from wedding celebrations, where the joyful firing of weapons is a tradition.
Though firm national statistics aren't available, the number of marriages each month is believed to have increased at least 20% since the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime ? and by some estimates has almost doubled. Violence doesn't seem to have dampened the trend. Thursday, as fighting raged in Fallujah and a car bomb went off in Baghdad, hundreds of people lined up outside the al-Karakh courthouse in western Baghdad to file marriage contracts.
The Family Court judge there, Shaker Mahmoud al-Najar, says the court approves about 20 to 30 marriage contracts a day, about double prewar numbers.
The reasons have little to do with love. Experts say an increase in government salaries and an end to compulsory military service, which frees more young men for marriage, are behind the spike.
Most unions are arranged by families. In Iraq's deeply religious society, where most young men and women cannot date without a father or brother present, marriage offers the lure of an independent life. A contract is essentially an agreement that the future husband has money to support a family.
Akil Abbas, 24, is an auto repairman in eastern Baghdad who plans to get married to a woman his mother selected. Business at the repair shop is good; the number of cars in Baghdad has tripled. On some days, he says, he earns $50. Government salaries are about $150 a month, a sharp increase over prewar levels.
"She told me we will marry once I buy the bedroom furniture," Abbas says of his future bride. "She is not that demanding."
Abbas says marriage is not about love. "I don't have time for such tales," he says. "My mother said if you marry, you will be on the right path, and Allah will bless you."
Link
Looks like optimism reigns in Iraq.
