Kuwait Way of Life



		Mother Teaching Her Children



	Kuwaitis adhere strictly to the teachings of Islam, which lays down certain rules regarding marriage and its related customs. In the case of marriage, the bride and bridegroom will have been approved of, though not necessarily chosen, by both sets of parents.

	Marriage into the right family is still the norm here. Form is a key feature in the Arab world. Improving one’s family lot counts in marriage. The bridegroom must make a “down payment” to the bride’s father, and the more distinguished the family, the higher the dowry. It is customary for the “delayed payment” part of the dowry to be much larger than the “down payment”, because it is intended for the bride’s future security in the event of divorce or the husband’s death.

	Marriage into the right family is still the norm here. Form is a key feature in the Arab world. Improving one’s family lot counts in marriage. The bridegroom must make a “down payment” to the bride’s father, and the more distinguished the family, the

higher the dowry. It is customary for the “delayed payment” part of the dowry to be much larger than the “down payment”, because it is intended for the bride’s future security in the event of divorce or the husband’s death.

After the happy couple has unofficially agreed to tie the knot, they must first be engaged in an Islamic court under Islamic law. Both names are registered, usually by two males or by two females and a male. (The formula is that two females equal one male.) Now they are legally entitled to date and see each other on a limited basis. In some ultra-traditional arrangements, such as between old-fashioned bedouin families, the bridegroom may never see the face of his wife-to-be until after they are married.


		The marriage itself in legal terms is testified to and legalized in the same fashion. Following this comes the traditional wedding feast, which is a sumptuous affair. Again, according to tradition, the male members and female members often conduct their celebrations completely separately, and rarely do the two fraternize.

	Hence the women will in many cases be in the same room or tent, where they will dance, eat, and chant at the tops of their voices. They will be unveiled and try to impress and outflatter each other. The bride will be decked out in her finest. She may



		Greeting The Bridegroom

also have had her feet and hands temporarily tattooed with a red dye called henna.


	The bride, it should be pointed out, will have had no contact at all with any other man. The greatest shame and therefore loss of face is brought upon a family if a woman is said to be involved in illicit acts.

	The men, for their part, will also be together in similar surroundings. In the more traditional weddings, the celebrants will slaughter a sheep (or several sheep and camels). Under some arrangements the bridegroom may enter the room or tent where his wife is. Should this occur, he sits beside her for a while, and then the happy couple leave to start their married life in peace.

	Muslim men may take up to four wives, though this is not common these days. Should a Muslim man choose a Christian woman, the children follow the man’s creed and not the woman’s. Divorce is less common than in most Western societies, and is regarded as “the most unpleasant of the things that are permitted”. In the event of divorce, social custom and the law require that the man support the woman for the rest of her life, as well as their children until they grow up.