OUTLOOK — By Saif Al Abri — His Eminence Shaikh Ahmed Bin Hamad al Khalili, the Sultanate’s Grand Mufti, has given his support to the youth aspiring to get married when he called on the Minister of Social Development and the entities concerned with the youths’ issues. This move is to do their utmost in helping young people desirous of tying the knot, through the setting up a marriage fund which can offer monetary assistance to help young people with the wedding cost and married life. Shaikh al Khalili also directed the relevant authorities in all wilayats to carry out initiatives aiming at simplifying wedding ceremonies in order to encourage the youth to get married.
Since the time the idea of the wedding fund popped out a large number of young people have been waiting impatiently for the idea to become a reality with many of them seeing such a support fund as their only hope to realise their dream of getting hitched. Over the last few years the wedding fund has been debated widely in the media and Internet forums, calling upon the authorities to hasten the launch of the project but unfortunately nothing has been achieved so far, apart from some efforts undertaken by popular committees which sometimes manage to secure funds from institutions.
Recently, His Eminence delivered a lecture at the Jabal Akhdhar mosque in the presence of the Minister of Social Development, which came as a reminder of the role that should be effectively played by the relevant government departments, private institutions and public committees which could eventually result in actualising the youths’ long-awaited dream by establishing the marriage fund.
The project is a social support fund the task of which is to receives donations from public and private institutions to offer financial support to young people who are about to get married. A large number of marriage aspirants pinned their hopes on the wedding fund as it would furnish them with the amount of money needed to complete the wedding without having to take bank loans with hefty interests that burden them with installments for the rest of their lives.
The voices calling on the relevant authorities to hasten the establishment of the wedding fund have been increasing since the idea came out a few years ago. T
hese voices are calling on local banks to support the proposed fund by offering easy loans the goal of which would be to help the youth get married, rather than seeking profit.
The many zealous initiatives supporting the facilitation of marriage should be organised and funded to realise their objectives through a unified marriage fund, the purpose of which is not limited to holding wedding parties but to help the youth sail though their married life without facing much financial difficulty.
