IRAQ: ONE HUNDRED COUPLES GET MARRIED IN CHARITY MASS WEDDING AS ECONOMIC CONDITIONS PREVENT COUPLES PAYING OUT FOR TRADITIONAL ARAB CEREMONY
Record ID:
647400
IRAQ: ONE HUNDRED COUPLES GET MARRIED IN CHARITY MASS WEDDING AS ECONOMIC CONDITIONS PREVENT COUPLES PAYING OUT FOR TRADITIONAL ARAB CEREMONY
- Title: IRAQ: ONE HUNDRED COUPLES GET MARRIED IN CHARITY MASS WEDDING AS ECONOMIC CONDITIONS PREVENT COUPLES PAYING OUT FOR TRADITIONAL ARAB CEREMONY
- Date: 6th August 2005
- Summary: (MER 1) BAGHDAD, IRAQ (AUGUST 6, 2005)(REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. VARIOUS OF NEWLY-MARRIED COUPLES SITTING IN TENT IN MUHSIN MOSQUE IN SADR CITY 0.11 2. WIDE OF COUPLES SITTING IN TENT 0.17 3. CLOSE OF ONE OF THE BRIDES 0.25 4. VARIOUS OF CHOIR OF YOUNG CHILDREN SINGING 0.37 5. CLOSE VIEW OF ONE OF THE CHILDREN IN THE CHOIR SINGING 0.42 6. SMV OF CHOIR 0.48 7. WIDE OF CHOIR AND CEREMONY 0.54 8. SCU (SOUNDBITE)(Arabic) BRIDE, EMAN HUSSEIN, SAYING: "This is due to the circumstances, which Iraq is passing through, especially Sadr City. All of us know this fact. We have suffered so much. We thank the Al-Beit al-Shi'i (the Shi'ite House) for this initiative to encourage the youth to get married and at the same time save us from the crisis of staying engaged forever without marriage." 1.20 9. WIDE OF BRIDES SITTING IN TENT 1.26 10. SCU (SOUNDBITE)(Arabic) JABBAR AL-IQABI, SAYING: "Thanks to Almighty God that the Shi'ite Endowment is supporting the youth in this mission, this hard mission for the youth, and in the first place those who do not have the ability or those who have difficult conditions. The country is passing through very difficult circumstances on all levels, the security, the economic and the political ones. There are no jobs." 1.53 11. VARIOUS OF BRIDEGROOMS AND MUSLIM CLERICS ATTENDING CEREMONY 2.04 12. SCU (SOUNDBITE)(Arabic) MUSLIM CLERIC, HUSSEIN AL-SHAMI, HEAD OF THE MARTYR'S ASSOCATION FOR HUMANITARIAN SERVICES, SAYING: "The former unjust Iraqi regime tried to break apart society and the Muslim family in Iraq by splitting the sons of the family, killing the men, scattering the boys and allowing women to leave the house, terminating childhood and terminating family happiness in Iraq. But we are trying today to return things to their true shape and return things to their true colours in order to get back Iraq as it was before." 2.35 13. CLOSE OF BANNER READING: 'THE HEROIC SADR CITY WILL REMAIN A SOURCE OF BLESSED GIVING AND FORTIFIED CASTLE AGAINST IGNORANCE, BACKWARDNESS AND TERRORISM'. 2.40 14. VARIOUS OF MUSLIM CLERIC HANDING A SCROLL AND THE KORAN TO BRIDGROOMS 2.57 16. WIDE OF YOUNG MEN AND BRIDES SEATED WATCHING CEREMONY 3.02 17. WIDE OF YOUNG MEN AT CEREMONY 3.10 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 21st August 2005 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: BAGHDAD, IRAQ
- Country: Iraq
- Reuters ID: LVA7QRFB2GBSHRAMCDBOLGEOUC3C
- Story Text: Dozens of Iraqi couples, struggling financially because of Iraq's dire
economic situation, marry during mass wedding ceremony.
One hundred Shi'ite Muslim couples, previously
kept apart by Iraq's economic crisis, gathered for a mass
wedding in Baghdad on Saturday (August 6) when a religious
charity met the otherwise steep costs of a traditional Arab
marriage.
Sitting in a tent on plastic chairs in the impoverished
Sadr City district of eastern Baghdad, grim-faced couples
waited for their numbers to be called out to go forward for
their gifts.
It was no dream wedding for most -- but it was better
than no nuptials at all, in a society where marital
prospects depend heavily on having the financial resources
to afford property.
"This is due to the circumstances, which Iraq is passing
through, especially Sadr City," said 31-year-old teacher
Eman Hussein, sitting next to her groom, Jabbar al-Iqabi. "All of
us
know this fact. We have suffered so much. We
thank the Al-Beit al-Shi'i (the Shi'ite House) for this
initiative to encourage the youth to get married and at the
same time save us from the crisis of staying engaged
forever without marriage."
Marriage is a deeply entrenched social institution
across the Arab world that can involve protracted and
highly sensitive negotiations between families.
Men struggle for years to meet the heavy demands of
future in-laws -- a home, jewellery, furniture, and cash.
Generating such funds is difficult in the region and
especially in Iraq.
Years of war, sanctions and now a raging insurgency
have ravaged the economy, sapped confidence in the
government and pushed up unemployment.
"Thanks to Almighty God that the Shi'ite Endowment is
supporting the youth in this mission, this hard mission for
the youth, and in the first place those who do not have the
ability or those who have difficult conditions. The country
is passing through very difficult circumstances on all
levels, the security, the economic and the political ones.
There are no jobs," said Jabbar al-Iqabi, Eman's groom.
Places like Sadr City were oppressed by Saddam Hussein
for decades and are still impoverished more than two years
after his fall, with raw sewage flowing in potholed
streets.
"Tonight, tonight we will enjoy tonight," sang a small
choir of young children as couples sat silently, rarely
smiling during the mass wedding.
Cleric Hussein al-Shami, head of The Martyr's
Association for Humanitarian Services which sponsored the
wedding, promised the couples a brighter future.
"The former unjust Iraqi regime tried to break apart
society and the Muslim family in Iraq by splitting the sons
of the family, killing the men, scattering the boys and
allowing women to leave the houses, terminating childhood
and terminating family happiness in Iraq," he said.
"But we are trying today to return things to its true
shape and return things to its natural colours in order to
get Iraq back as it was before."
Each couple received 500 U.S. dollars, a Koran and a
Persian rug.
Mass weddings are unusual in the Arab world, where the
wealthy hold elaborate and expensive ceremonies in
five-star hotels and the middle and lower classes can spend
years after marriage nearly overwhelmed by bills for the
celebrations.
Saddam Hussein's son Uday, who was killed by American
forces after the 2003 invasion, held a few mass weddings
for some poor couples in a show of conspicuous generosity.
They may become more popular in the turmoil of postwar
Iraq.
Six hundred couples have engaged in mass weddings in
the past six months, Shami's group said. The money came
from general
charitable contributions.
Soft drinks and sweets were handed out to celebrate the
weddings.
Just attending the wedding and going home was risky.
Suicide bombers have repeatedly attacked large gatherings
of Shi'ites, including mosque prayers and funerals.
*
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