by Karim
on 23 April 2010
Canadian Arabs are one of the largest non-European ethnic groups in this enormous and peaceful country. In 2001, almost 350,000 people of Arab origin lived in Canada, representing 1.2% of the total Canadian population. The Lebanese are the largest group within the Arab-Canadian community, with the smallest communities being Algerian and Palestinian.
Many of Canada’s Arabs live on the eastern side of Canada, either in Ontario or Quebec, and more than half have settled in the capitals of these provinces: Montreal and Toronto. About half of Canada’s Arabs are Muslim while most of the other half belongs to a variety of Christian religious groups and relatively few state they have no religious affiliation.
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by Anisa
on 15 March 2010
What Exactly is a TV Marriage?
“Shaadi Online” means “Marriage Online” in Urdu, and this popular Karachi-based prime-time TV show has already arranged scores of Pakistani marriages during its 6-year history.
The secret behind its success lies in its knack for respecting Pakistani and Muslim cultural tendencies that leave matchmaking singles to the family and community. Shaadi Online gives modern Pakistani singles them the opportunity to look outside the box, but to do so with their families’ backing, a little televised guidance and of course, a touch of glitz ‘n’ glamour.
What’s more (and here’s the clever bit) by using a computer database that contains thousands of singles, the show does its bit to break down the wealth and status barriers that are often crucial factors when it comes to scrutinizing a potential partner in Pakistani society – the kind of pressures prospective brides especially tend to come up against, when introduced to potential suitors.
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by Anisa
on 24 December 2009
December was not a good month for Hamsarchat.com (no longer accessible). This popular Iranian Internet dating website that had chalked up over 1.6 million hits was banned for “promoting prostitution”, on the advice of leading Islamic clerics.
Self-titled “Iran’s most complete spouse-finding website”, Hamsarchat (literally: “spouse chat”) promised to connect members with “the closest person or persons to your standards” in return for a modest 25,000 Rial (about 2 Euro) fee. The company insists that its aim was to promote marriage rather than just “friend-finding”.
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by Anisa
on 8 December 2009
Yemeni Liah Saeed al-Naeti is a brave woman. In one swift move, she’s attracted the attention the Yemen’s Jewish and Muslim communities.
To the shock of her relatives and clan, Liah, a Yemeni Jew from a well-to-do family deserted her Jewish husband in June ’09 and eloped with a Muslim, only to marry him a week later. [click to continue…]
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by Anisa
on 12 October 2009
Jordanians are taking matters of the heart into their own hands when it comes to looking for love. Matchmaking for a suitable mate has traditionally been a family affair in Jordan. These days, the nation’s intrepid young love-seekers are now entrusting their amorous endeavours to external marriage-brokering agencies, such as The Covenant Marriage Agency in Irbid, a traditionally conservative Jordanian city about an hour north of Amman.
There’s a great online radio programme on this agency at NPR.org. Sparsely furnished and overlooking a busy square, the agency’s office is doing a roaring trade in helping single Jordanians in their quest for love. [click to continue…]
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by Anisa
on 10 October 2009
An unusual and eye-catching poster is covering a major street wall in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. So what’s it all about?
It’s an anti-smoking campaign, but this is no ordinary health-kick. Naqa (or Purity) is a non-governmental organization in Saudi Arabia specialized in providing the best tailored programs, in accordance to Islamic values and beliefs, with the purpose of helping you quit smoking. You are probably wondering what this foundation has to do with marriage. I promise you the answer will come soon, but first, allow me to provide you with some quick facts about smoking and marriage in Saudi Arabia.
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There are a few love stories between American soldiers and Iraqi civilians that have happy endings against such gargantuan odds. The diversity in culture, language, religion, history, and opinion would be challenging for any romance in peaceful times, let alone amid this brutal, controversial and enduring war.
Nevertheless, romance has occasionally blossomed in this, the most unlikely of places. Many of the soldier-civilian love stories began when the war kicked off in 2003 and 2004. Things were different back then: Iraqis and Americans could interact pretty much like friends and lovers do anywhere – with eye contact, handshakes, sometimes even hugs and hand-holding. Today it’s a different story: blast walls and thick windshields mark the boundaries between the occupying and native nations, and the ever-decreasing number of Iraqi-American lovebirds who have decided to try and live and love across the ocean or amid the barricades do so in constant fear of reprisals.
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It was a bizarre ending to a bizarre life: The death of Michael Jackson has resonated around the world, as fans and critics world-wide look to each other and inside themselves to reconcile what was without doubt, a life tinted with talent and glory and scarred with controversy and reclusion.
It was a strange tune to which he danced, and in the last months of Michael’s life he chose to embark on an altogether different journey from the moonwalk to following the trail his brother Jermaine’s footsteps into the sanctuary of Islam.
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