MADINAH — Minister of Justice Walid Al-Samaani has directed marriage officials (mazouns) to listen personally to women's consent to matrimony before they write down marriage contracts. "Mazouns should have the approval of the woman herself and not any one else who may claim to be her representative, even if it is her father," he said. The minister asked the mazouns to listen to the verbal consent of the woman by themselves and not to deputize others to take the statement. "This is crucial to concluding any marriage contract," the minister said, asking the mazouns to have both the husband and wife signing the marriage contract. Secretary-general of Wiam (Harmony) Society in the Eastern Province Mohammed Al-Abdul Qadir revealed that the society and the ministry have jointly trained about 4,000 mazouns with a view to making the marriage registration process smooth. He said through a number of training sessions and workshops, the mazouns were thoroughly briefed on the Shariah procedures for finalizing a marriage contract. He said these procedures included ascertaining the identities of the two parties and listening to the verbal consent of both the husband and the wife to the matrimony. Abdulqadir said the mazouns should not accept the approval to the marriage from the farther, brother or sister of the bride but from herself alone. He said the mazouns were also taught to make sure that the woman who gives the consent is the bride herself. Alabdulqadir said the mutual approval of the man and wife is one of the factors that may cut down the divorce rate.
