“Praise to God, the original Creator of all things; the Gracious in all His gifts and prohibitions; who has decreed and fixed the ordinance of marriage; may Allah pray for (bless) our Prophet Mohammed, and his four successors!  Now after this, we say that marriage is one of the laws given by the prophets, and one of the statutes of the pious to guard against vice; a gift from the Lord of the earth and the heaven.  Praise to Him who by it has brought the far ones near, and made the foreigner a relative and friend!  We are assembled here to attend to a matter decreed and fated of Allah, and whose beginning, middle and end he has connected with the most happy and auspicious circumstances.  This matter is the blessed covenant of marriage.  Inshullah, may it be completed and perfected, and praise to Allah, the Great Completer!  Amen!

“In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate.  He is my portion and sufficiency.  May Allah pray for his pure prophet!”

This is the marriage contract between the person named A. son of ——­ of the village of ——­ in the district of ——­ in Lebanon, and his betrothed named B. the daughter of ——­ of the village of ——­ she being a maiden of full and marriageable age, with no legal obstacles to her marriage. (May Allah protect her veil, and have mercy on her relatives and friends!)

In view of the mercies of Allah and his prophet Mohammed, they pay fifty piastres ($2.00) of full and lawful number, weight and measure, of the Imperial mint of our Moulah the Sultan, (may the exalted and merciful One give him the victory!) and of new white silver.  The agent of the husband is ——­ and of the wife is ——.

It is the absolute and bounden duty of the husband to provide clothing for the body of his wife and a crown for her head, and of the wife to give him his due honor and rights and do his work, and Allah will be with those who fear Him, and not suffer those who do well to lose their reward.

Signed Sheikh ——­ (seal)
—­                          seal
Witnesses   —­                          seal
—­                          seal

A whole week is given up to festivity before her arrival, and the retinue of the bride mounted on fine horses escort her amid the firing of musketry, the zilagheet shrieks of the women, and general rejoicing, to the bridegroom’s house.  Col.  Churchill describes what follows:  “The bride meantime, after having received the caresses and congratulations of her near relatives, is conducted to a chamber apart and placed on a divan, with a large tray of sweetmeats and confectionery before her, after which all the females withdraw and she is left alone, with a massive veil of muslin and gold thrown over her head and covering her face, breasts and shoulders down to the waist.  What thoughts and sensations must crowd upon the maiden’s mind in this solitude! not to be disturbed but by him who will shortly come to receive in that room his first impressions of her charms and attractions!  Presently she hears footsteps at the door; it opens quietly; silently and unattended her lover approaches her, lifts the veil off her face, takes one glance, replaces it and withdraws.”