The Human Strategy 
Marriage — Lebanese Style 
Among members of the Druse sect, the marriage contract 
is a customary safeguard for women 
by Paul D. Starr and Nura S. Alamuddin 
With the women’s liberation move- 
ment in the Western nations has come 
the proposal that couples entering into 
marriage negotiate an extensive con- 
tract that specifies the nature of their 
relationship. These agreements may 
include any of the financial or personal 
aspects of a marriage — the wife’s use 
of her maiden name, birth control 
methods, whether or not to have chil- 
dren (and if so, the number), residence 
patterns, the division of household la- 
bor, the use of income, sexual rights 
and freedom, relationships with in- 
laws, and the distribution of property 
should the marriage end. All such pro- 
visions may not be legally binding but 
they can, it is argued, help us to ex- 
amine the incomplete assumptions we 
hold about our intimate relationships 
and make them more equitable, sat- 
isfying, and enduring. 
Marriage contracts in the industri- 
alized West have been negotiated by 
a relatively few avant-garde couples, 
and their use strikes many as a passing 
fashion brought on by the push for 
sexual equality. But in the Middle 
East and other parts of the world, 
marriage contracts have been used by 
many people for hundreds, even thou- 
sands, of years. 
In spite of the continuing reliance 
on marriage contracts throughout the 
Middle East, few analyses of what 
these agreements mean to those who 
use them have been possible. Shortly 
before the most recent Lebanese civil 
conflict, however, we were able to ex- 
amine a large sample (3,398) of the 
marriage contracts negotiated by 
members of the Druse sect in that 
country froYn 1931 through 1974. 
One of Lebanon’s numerous reli- 
gious sects, the Druse are also an im- 
portant Arab minority group in neigh- 
boring Syria and Israel. They have 
continually played an important role 
in the history of the Levant and from 
the sixteenth through the eighteenth 
century were one of the most powerful 
groups in the region. Originally emerg- 
ing from the sectarian turmoil of elev- 
enth-century Cairo, the theology of 
the Druse includes many features that 
distinguish it from the mainstream of 
Islam. Aside from the monogamous 
marriage practices of the Druse, how- 
ever, their contemporary way of life 
reflects traditional values found 
among most other Arab Islamic 
groups in the Middle East. In fact, 
although polygamy is permissible in 
other Islamic groups in the region, 
fewer than 3 percent of the husbands 
who can legally have more than one 
wife at the same time do so. In most 
respects, then, Druse marriage pat- 
terns reflect values that commonly 
prevail among Moslems in the Levant. 
The marriage contract plays a fun- 
damental part in the institution of 
marriage among the Druse. Legalizing 
the union, and giving it a religious 
sanction, a contract is usually the 
product of lengthy and elaborate ne- 
gotiations on the part of a couple’s 
senior kin. Some of its provisions in- 
volve only the initial establishment of 
the union, while others serve to help 
perpetuate the union or cope with its 
termination. The standard contract 
form that has been used in recent dec- 
ades by the Central Druse Religious 
Court in Beirut includes the names, 
birthplaces, birth dates, and home vil- 
lages of the bride and groom; the 
names of their fathers, deputies, and 
witnesses; and a place for seals and 
signatures. It also specifies the phys- 
ical status of the bride and whether 
she is a virgin, a widow, or a divorcee. 
(Given the very strict puritanical code 
of the Druse, it is unthinkable that 
a woman could be listed as a nonvirgin 
and not have been previously mar- 
ried.) The most important part of the 
contract deals with the mahr , a pay- 
ment made by the husband to the 
bride or her kin. There are two types 
of mahr. The first, or immediate, type 
is to be given before, during, or shortly 
after the contract-signing ceremony, 
and usually includes some money and 
such gifts as jewelry, furniture, and 
a sewing machine. The second, or de- 
ferred, mahr is a cash amount that 
the groom and his family agree to 
pay the bride in the event that he 
divorces her or dies before she does. 
Should a woman initiate a divorce, 
she would commonly forfeit the de- 
ferred sum. 
Mahr can serve different purposes. 
Some regard it as purchase money, 
while others view it as a symbol, a rit- 
ualistic demonstration of the groom’s 
esteem for the bride. Clearly, imme- 
diate mahr in the form of furniture, 
clothing, a sewing machine, or other 
goods is helpful in establishing the 
couple’s household. The deferred 
mahr can be regarded as a kind of 
insurance policy to help protect the 
wife from the economic deprivation 
that she would be likely to suffer 
through the loss of her husband by 
either divorce or death. Deferred 
mahr can also reflect the degree of 
the husband’s commitment to his 
spouse. Even though it is legally rel- 
atively easy for a man to obtain a 
divorce in the Middle East, this course 
of action becomes less likely, espe- 
cially among rural peasants, if a hus- 
band is required to pay a large lump 
sum as compensation. As with so many 
other social inventions, the reasons for 
the existence of mahr can be as varied 
as the uses to which it can be put. 
Given the significant role mahr 
plays during negotiations preceding a 
match, as well as throughout a mar- 
riage, we chose to focus our inquiry 
on how various characteristics of the 
couple influenced the amount of de- 
ferred mahr agreed upon. 
We looked initially at how the 
“physical status” of the bride affected 
her position in the “marketplace.” Vir- 
