© Eric Gaillard / Reuters
A Saudi woman recently lost a legal battle to marry the man of her choice
because he is "religiously incompatible" with her, as he plays a musical instrument, a Saudi newspaper reported Tuesday.
According to the
Okaz newspaper, the suitor asked for the unidentified woman's hand in marriage two years ago. The woman is a 38-year-old bank manager from the region of Qassim, which is north of the kingdom's capital of Riyadh. However,
the woman's family objected to the suitor, who is a teacher, claiming that the man was not religiously compatible with them because he played the "oud," a type of lute popular across the Middle East.
Under Saudi Arabia's male guardianship system, a woman must have a male guardian - either a father, brother, husband or son - to make decisions on her behalf, including where she can travel or whom she can marry. In this case, the woman's family nixed the proposal apparently
because of their belief that instrumental music is forbidden under Islamic law, a belief that exists among particularly conservative Muslims. Such Muslims believe that only vocal music is "halal" or permissible.
The woman wasn't ready to take no for an answer, however. She took her case to court,
but a lower court sided with her family, agreeing that making music made him an unacceptable partner, Okaz reported Tuesday. An appeals court also ratified the lower court's decision.
Comment: Expect no repercussions for Whoopi. The left, apparently, feels free enough to say the most heinous things.