Behind the veil

Behind the veil

An Arab man in Dubai was apparently conned into marrying a cross-eyed woman who sported a beard, because she wore the niqab.

February 10, 2010 3:02 by kippreport

An Arab diplomat in Dubai divorced his veiled bride after he accused her and her family of not revealing that she had a beard and was cross-eyed, reports Gulf News. The man told a Sharia court in the city that the bride’s family “deceived his mother” by showing her pictures of the girl’s sister.

“Every time the couple met, the bride would do her best not to reveal her entire face,” a source involved in the case told the paper. “After the ambassador and the woman, who is a physician, signed the marriage contract, the groom was sitting with the bride… he claimed to the Sharia court officials that when he wanted to kiss his wife-to-be, he discovered that she was bearded and cross-eyed as well,” the source said.

While the court divorced the couple, it dismissed the man’s request that the pre-marriage gifts be returned from the girl, says the report.

With France currently debating the ban of the burka for cultural and security reasons, the use of the Muslim veil is facing international spotlight. Earlier this week, Paris saw its first burka robbery, where two men stole more than $6,200 from a bank in Paris after hiding a gun under their veils.

In that context, do you think the marriage story reinforces the idea that the garments (burka/niqab) can be used to conceal essential information? That it can easily be misused? Or is the Dubai divorce story just a case of a regular marriage turned sour?