Abu Dhabi’s Civil Marriage Law Is Not the First in the Middle East and Arab World
The Claim
The UAE allows the first civil marriage across the Middle East and Arab World.
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Emerging story
News websites and Twitter accounts have recently shared a claim that Abu Dhabi’s recent certification of a civil marriage is the first of its kind in the Middle East and the Arabic-speaking region.
Misbar’s Analysis
Misbar’s team investigated the circulated claim and found that it was fake. The civil marriage certified by Abu Dhabi’s court is not the first of its kind in the Middle East and the Arabic-speaking region. However, it is the first of its kind only in the Gulf region.
As for the Middle East region, former Lebanese Minister of Interior, Marwan Charbel, signed 13 civil marriage documents after assuming his duties in 2013, thus becoming the first Lebanese minister to implement the law and give Lebanese couples the right to civil marriage. But this did not last long because Minister of Interior Nouhad Machnouk, who took over after Marwan Charbel, discontinued the application of the law.
Description: The screenshot shows a piece of news titled: “Marwan Charbel: A Success Story of the First Civil Marriage in Lebanon.”
In the Arabic region, Tunisia is the first Arab country to separate religion from law and the personal status of citizens. In 1956, the late Tunisian President, Habib Bourguiba, approved reforms in the Personal Status Code, which prohibited polygamy and any form of marriage outside the civil law.
The claim started to circulate following the signing of the first civil marriage for a Canadian couple at Abu Dhabi’s recently established non-Muslim family court. The court helps make life easier for non-Muslim foreigners in the UAE.
Most Arabic-speaking countries do not recognize civil marriage, given the controversy over its alleged contradiction with religious texts in Islamic and Christian teachings.
Translated by Ahmed N. A. Almassri
