Last evening I attended the Wedding Dinner of a colleague of mine. An American, she had married a Qatar life-long resident of Egyptian descendent born in Palestine. His extended family lives in Qatar, as does his former wife and his children of the first marriage, now in their twenties. Only native Qataris have citizenship; birth and marriage cannot make a citizen. In the instance of Palestinain born people, they have no statehood. Something I learned from another colleague of mine, herself Palestinain, who must travel annually to Egypt (her mother is Egyptian) to secure necessary paperwork to allow her to continue her residency and work in Qatar, where she has lived most her life.
But the wedding is the topic here. As I learned, a Qatari marriage is essentially the signing of a set of contracts between the man and woman. Probably some boilerplate, but in this instance, firmly written in was the ability of the wife to work (she teaches biology at the College) and the fact that any children would be raised Muslim even if they divorce. She is not converting. The contracts had been signed the previous week and last night was the wedding dinner. A large band of native dressed arabs escorted the bride and groom (or husband and wife) from her house in the compound in which she lives (and to which he is moving) to the compound clubhouse. Great noise and a slow procession, a few shots of which are shown here. In all case the Native-dressed gentlesmen proceeded the man and wife in two files, looking back as if to make certain they were following, until at the end they paused as the couple proceeded them into the reception. The photgraphs of the standing man and woman are taken during the procession. It was dark and the crowd was moving so the photos are not the best. The other tenants in the compound were remarkably tolerant of the noise and in fact came out to watch and cheer the procession on.
