Egypt's Salafists start offering marriage counseling
A Salafi association holding premarital courses strictly for girls is raising controversy in Egypt’s religious and legal circles.
CAIRO — Egyptians in general welcome premarital education for Muslim couples, in light of the country's high divorce rate. But courses offered strictly to young women by Salafi groups are raising controversy for their claims that women are solely responsible for their marriages' success or failure.
In a statement published July 20 in Egyptian newspapers, Salafi preacher Sameh Abdel Hamid called on the Egyptian government to entrust every authorized marriage officer to propose counseling courses to couples wishing to marry. But reactions were largely unfavorable to an ad distributed in the streets of Cairo for courses targeting only young women. The Qurrat Ayun (Joy of the Eye) association, which organized those courses, ended up canceling classes scheduled for Aug. 2-5. The group cited reasons “beyond its control.”
