Marriage Problems Through The Years

For 70 years the Marriage Guidance Council, now Relate, has acted as honest broker in the love wars. Now it opens its archives for the first time, revealing intimate details of marital strife. Some problems have stayed the same, but the remedies have changed beyond recognition.

 QIIB to give interest-free loans for marriage

Doha  In a first, a local Islamic bank has begun offering citizens pre- and post-marriage loans, considering that a wedding can be an expensive affair for a limited-income family or individual.

The loans are to be given to nationals who either got married in 2007 or are planning to marry this year -- provided they meet the eligibility criteria.

The offer for post-wedding loans is for newly-married couples who find it hard to organize finances to furnish their homes or buy household goods.

The Qatar International Islamic Bank (QIIB), however, said yesterday the maximum loan amount to be given away to eligible borrowers will be QR50,000.

And the encumbrance-free loan (meaning there would be no interest burden since the QIIB is an Islamic bank) is to be repaid in equal monthly instalments in a year after it has been granted.


Marriage of 8-year-old terminated

SANAA: A Yemeni court ordered the marriage of an eight-year-old girl terminated yesterday because she had not reached puberty.  The court also ordered the child's family to pay about $250 in compensation to the 30-year-old ex-husband.  The girl's lawyer and human rights activist Shatha Nasser said the minor had filed a suit in April asking for divorce and told the court that her husband had been physically abusing her.  The compensation was paid by a volunteer who was attending the trial, she said, adding that the compensation was for the dowry the husband had paid to the girl's father.

The ruling terminated the marriage instead of granting a divorce to prevent the husband from seeking to reinstate the marriage, according to the lawyer.  Last week, the court ordered the father and husband to be arrested after hearing the girl's testimony in which she accused her husband of sexual and domestic abuse.

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