A cartel of eight marriage officials have formed a group on WhatsApp to propagate polygamy as a remedy to the rising number of the divorced women, widows and spinsters. Reporting the news recently, Makkah daily did not name the members of the group but said they have established a cartel under the name "polygamy". Members of the group said they were calling on young men marry more than one wife in order to cut down the number of Saudi women without partners to share their life. They said they mooted the idea after noticing the rising rates of divorce in Makkah and decided to encourage polygamy to get men marry more than one woman. The group collected data of about 900 women consisting of divorcees, widows and women who had never married before. They gathered enough data about women who would not mind being a second, third or a fourth wife. The list consisted of Saudi, Yemeni, Moroccan, Syrian, Palestinian, Egyptian, Nigerian, Bangladeshi, Chinese, Pakistani and women of other nationalities. Some women only gave their nationality or the name of their tribes but they have submitted sufficient information to enable the marriage officials contact them easily whenever there is an interested suitor. According to the list, the oldest of the women was 55 years old and the youngest 18. Their heights ranged from 140 to 177 centimeters and their weight 45-98 kg. Some of the women made difficult conditions which might not be easy to meet. One of them asked for a dowry of SR60,000 while another said the man to marry her should have memorized the entire Qur'an. The women's educational qualifications varied from the master's degree to high secondary school. One of them has a PhD and is teaching in university. The list also included women with no education at all but they did not mind polygamy. One of the women who applied through the group is a divorcee with eight children. The marriage officials said they are ready to assist in matchmaking free of charge.
