Make sure to check this great infographic by Nicolas Hayek on civil marriage in Lebanon since its inception in 1936 till today.
via Nicolas Hayek
Tag Archives | civil marriage
Civil marriage in Lebanon: Walking the talk
So talks about legalizing civil marriage in Lebanon have been ongoing for like a month now since several news outlets reported on the couple, Nidal Darwish and Khouloud Succariyeh, who practiced civil marriage in Lebanon after striking out the mention of their sects from their IDs and getting the necessary paperwork done.
But are we ever going to witness civil marriage being legalized in Lebanon? Or are our politicians just trying to make electoral gains in the upcoming elections by showing support to it? Michael Sleiman, Saad Hariri and many others have made it clear that they do support passing a law for optional civil marriage. But it takes a real politician to walk the talk.
I mean does it take politicians who lead significant parliamentary blocks and are for legalizing the civil marriage too much to put their words to actions? If I were Hariri for example, I would have led a movement to legalize the practice and take all the credits for it! Unless our politicians are just bluffing, and in that case maybe we should just tell them khlosna ba2a!
Mufti Kabbani strictly against civil marriage
I’m a Muslim myself but never knew civil marriage is regarded that bad until I heard what Mufti Rashid Kabbani had to say about it today.
“Every Muslim official, whether a deputy or a minister, who supports the legalization of civil marriage, even if it is optional, is an apostate and outside the Islamic religion,” Qabbani said in a religious edict, or fatwa.
“[Such officials] would not be washed, would not be wrapped in a [burial] shroud, would not have prayers for their soul in line with Islamic rules, and would not be buried in a Muslim cemetery,” Qabbani added. Source
Why the hell can’t religious figures accept that civil marriage becomes optional in Lebanon just like alcohol is?!
Lebanon’s first civil marriage not approved
Unfortunately the civil marriage I posted about earlier did not get approved after the Interior Ministry referred it to the Justice Ministry, simply due to the fact that civil marriage is not yet allowed in Lebanon, and therefore the workaround that Nidal and Khouloud came up with did not work.
Interior Minister Marwan Charbel said the Justice Ministry did not approve a Lebanese couple’s request for a civil marriage in the country.
“The Interior Ministry referred the marriage request to the Justice Ministry’s advisory panel, which studied the request and did not approve on it due to the absence of a law that regulates civil marriage,” Charbel told An-Nahar newspaper in remarks published Monday.
“Any similar request will not be [approved],” the minister also said, calling for a new law that regulates civil marriage.
“There must be a [law] to regulate the personal status, marriage and divorce as well inheritance and other similar issues,” Charbel added.
You can read about the issue in this article by Now Lebanon.
Lebanon’s first civil marriage
It’s hard to believe given our rules and regulations, but this couple, Khouloud and Nidal, did manage to wed by civil marriage in Lebanon after they got the necessary paperwork, which wasn’t an easy job for them by the way. You can check all about it in this article by Now Lebanon, or just read the below summary by Najib to know how did they accomplish that.
Step1: Strike out the mention of both Kholoud’s and Nidal’s sects from their respective IDs to prove before the law that they are not affiliated with a sect that forces them to marry before a religious court. They thus acquired the right to hold a civil marriage as per Article 60 L.R.
Step2: Obtain a form signed by the mayor proving that there are no objections to their marriage and put the marriage announcement up on a billboard 15 days before the wedding date to make sure that there were no objections to it. The announcement was supposed to be published in the Official Gazette or at least two newspapers, but in order to prevent any hindrances, Kholoud and Nidal just posted the announcement on the doors of their parents’ houses and on the door of their own house.
Step3: Obtain a legal document signed by a notary public after both parties chose the articles included in the marriage contract as well as a financial disclosure that guarantees the rights of each party to the marriage.
It’s worth noting that Khouloud and Nidal are still waiting for the Ministry of Interior to officially announce their marriage.