DOHA: Qatar being a wealthy country, its young citizens of marriageable age, even though they are from limited-income families, find the idea of mass marriages humiliating.
“The concept of mass marriages is not acceptable to the Qatari community because it is against their traditions and customs and it downgrades their social status,” a Qatari psychologist told local Arabic daily Al Arab.
“We could instead have a marriage fund to help a Qatari man get married since Qatari weddings are an expensive affair,” said Dr Moza Al Malki.
She said that since most Qatari youth depend on salaries they go for bank loans to get married.
And Qatari citizens cannot go to charity organisations seeking help for their marriage or cannot agree to mass marriage ceremonies because they think that it downgrades their social status.
“I am personally against mass marriages because it does not suit our traditions and customs and interfere with the privacy of the grooms,” said Al Malki. Marriage loans granted by the state to citizens are not enough to help reduce the burden of marriage expenses on the youth, therefore most of them do not ask for it, said Al Maliki.
She urged the authorities concerned to set up a marriage fund to help Qatari men of marriageable age to get married.
Every family has its own traditions, so if the mass marriage is organised for one extended family it is okay. But brides and grooms come from different families at mass weddings, therefore it is not acceptable to the Qatari community, said a citizen, Abu Mohammad Al Tamimi.
The authorities concerned should think of other ways to facilitate youngsters to get married rather than have mass marriages, said Mohammad Al Bariki. Building up cheaper marriage halls like Rimas project launched by the Social Development Center is a good idea, he said.
The Peninsula
