Page 173 - UAE Truncal States

Chapter Four

other gifts which the bride receives from her husband; thirdly, the
cost of the wedding festivities, which may include food for many
guests as well as money to be given to a group who are engaged to
sing and dance, and prizes for the winners in camel races.
The most important part of the marriage contract is, however, the
money, or animals or real estate, which the girl is given and which
she should keep separate from the rest of the household income to be
available for her use in case of divorce. It is important to stress here
that, however close the family lies between the bride and bride­
groom, a formal contract, which may not always be in writing, is
almost certainly worked out between the two parties. It is very much
part of the Islamic tradition that society as a whole ensures that the
rights which are accorded to women are strictly safeguarded, this is
facilitated by the fact that everyone in the community is told the
details of the contract. i
Polygamy
Although many men in the Trucial States have more than one wife
during their lifetime, this is not necessarily due to widespread
polygamy nor to a high rate of divorce. The most frequent reason for a
divorce is if a husband wants more children and the wife is barren. It
is rare that the husband divorces his wife in anger, because apart
from the emotional aspect of losing the small children he has to
consider the cost if he wishes to marry anew. The bride price has
always been very high relative to the income which the various levels
of society could reckon with at any particular period in history. To i
have more than one wife at a time was common only among the well-
to-do families of the coastal towns who were involved in the pearling
industry, and among the ruling families and leading shaikhs. Shaikh
Zayid bin Khallfah, who died in 1909, had six wives; one of the
leading pearling-boat owners in Abu Dhabi was said to have had
eighteen wives, but neither had more than three wives at a time and
death ended a marriage more frequently than divorce. A Ruler often
used marriage for political reasons: by taking the daughter of a
leading tribal shaikh he could hope to consolidate the allegiance of
that tribe.
There was an unusually high rate of death in childbirth before
modern medical facilities were introduced in the Trucial States; it
has been estimated that some 40 per cent of the women in the Trucial
States died during child-bearing age as a result of problems during
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