Saleh al Shaibany
Foreign Correspondent
* Last Updated: November 22. 2009 8:19PM UAE / November 22. 2009 4:19PM GMT
MUSCAT // Nasra al Mukhaini, 38, a widow for the past 18 months, has found that life without her husband of 16 years is even more difficult than she could have imagined.
He left her with three young children and, with no formal education, Ms al Mukhaini cannot find a job to support her family. They survive from the financial support of her two brothers.
“My brothers have their own families and they can’t spare much. They also are under a lot of pressure from their wives because my children and I are extra mouths to feed,” said Ms al Mukhaini , whose husband, who died at the age of 42, was a mechanic for an automobile dealership.
Many Omani widows struggle to lead happy lives after losing their husbands in a society that treats them as a burden and bad luck. Most widows struggle to cope with their grief, and few are able to find second husbands and build new lives.
According to a local superstition, anyone they marry is destined to die a premature death.
Women’s rights activists say the superstition is contrary to Islamic teaching, but is kept alive by men who do not want to be saddled with orphaned children and by women reluctant to share their husbands with second wives. “It is a stupid tradition, started by men who see orphaned children as a burden. Islam encourages men to marry widows to shelter them and protect them from loose tongues,” Ms al Mukhaini said.
In the Qur’an, Muslim men are allowed to marry four wives, and one of the reasons given is to help provide a new life for widowed women.
Widows in Oman also become the victim of gossip by other women whenever they interact with men.
“They sometimes get labelled as men grabbers if they get friendly with the opposite sex, just because they are available. These women don’t understand that being available does not mean a widow is on the lookout to get married to any man she makes contact with,” Ms al Mukhaini said.
Many young widows also find that their friends often abandon them after the deaths of their husbands. With no friends, their social lives become severely restricted.
“Jealous wives would never invite young and pretty widows to their houses. We are kept away from their husbands. They see us as a threat to their marriages. Of course, their fear is unfounded, but these girls suddenly find that they need to protect their marriages,” Sabiha Malik, 29, said.
Ms Malik’s husband died three years ago, leaving her with two children but no financial problems. She is a business graduate with a well-paying job and is able to support her young family.
“Perhaps a widow like me can be spared from financial problems, but there is no escaping the prejudice of the society. No one likes to admit it, but we are treated like social outcasts; it’s all smiles in front, but frowns behind your back,” Ms Malik said.
According to Ms al Mukhaini, widows are rarely invited to weddings, which are the main social gatherings of the year in Oman and a chance to get out of the house and spend time with family and friends.
“If you do [invite them], then bad luck would descend on the newlyweds. At worst, the bride will also become a widow, as if widowhood is a contamination that can be passed on. You can see the scale of the problem a widow has to face,” Ms al Mukhaini said.
Ms Malik called for social reforms and a change of attitude to eliminate misconceptions about widows.
“It is about time we change. I know it is difficult, but it can be done through symposiums backed by the media. But more widows must come forward to support the cause because most of them prefer to suffer silently. The bad luck associated with us is just part of a cruel tradition, started centuries ago. It is un-Islamic, too,” Ms Malik said.
According to the Qur’an, widows cannot marry again immediately but must wait four months and 10 days after the death of their husbands. The period is called iddah and its purpose is to establish whether the widow is pregnant or not to avoid confusion over who the father is if she gets married again. It is also to protect women from rushing to another marriage while they are emotionally vulnerable in the period of mourning.
Widows who have romantic relationships outside of marriage defend themselves and blame the communities they live in.
“We have biological needs and if we can’t get husbands, then who could blame us?” a widow who identified herself only as Salma said.
Some Omani widows marry foreign men after failing to find suitors from among their compatriots. “Younger widows marrying foreigners is a more popular option and a solution to their matrimonial problem,” Salma added.
But Salma said the call on tolerance from society to ease the suffering of widows hinges on educated women who have lost their husbands, like Sabiha Malik.
“Oman is not the place where women’s voices are heard easily. It will take time to be embraced by society. However, educated women can start the movement now by having roadshows, seminars and television talk shows to change that,” Salma said.
Source The National: Widows of Oman call for end to prejudice
Showing posts with label civil society. Show all posts
Showing posts with label civil society. Show all posts
Sunday, 22 November 2009
Sunday, 8 November 2009
Omanis count cost of funds fraud
MUSCAT // When each of the 20 people were swindled out of 1,500 rials (Dh14,300) by a jomeea financing scheme, they had no option but to report the “crime” to the police. Even before they made the complaint, they knew they had little hope of getting their money back.
Jomeea is a tradition practised in Omani communities to raise funds for individuals to finance the purchase of a property, such as a farm, or the construction of a house. Each member of the jomeea, on a rotational basis, collects a fixed amount of money from the other members each month.
Members in a jomeea group can be as few as five but regularly number more than 30. The amount of money changing hands ranges from 50 rials to 2,000 rials a month, depending on the financial status of participants. Each member receives the amount he contributed when his turn comes. The person receiving the money continues to contribute until the round ends.
Jomeeas are completely legal, though susceptible to dishonest members, and frowned upon by bankers here.
Hundreds of people across the country have been swindled over the years, but there are no statistics because the jomeea is not an officially sanctioned practice and the government has repeatedly said it does not get involved in private financial arrangements. The Central Bank of Oman, in a recent statement, refused to regulate the practice, saying it was an arrangement incompatible with standard international financial practices.
For Mohammed Shaikhan, 36, a mechanical engineer, the jomeea due would have been 28,500 rials with which he planned to partly finance his house in Muscat. Mr Shaikhan said a member of his jomeea left the country for Africa after collecting the money in his round – and never returned.
“The man just disappeared with our money and we believe he is out of the country. I suspect he is somewhere in Africa, where he cannot be found,” Mr Sheikhan said. “It is embarrassing to talk about it that 20 people can be swindled by a seemingly nice man.”
Mr Shaikhan and his friends’ case was rejected by the court since there was nothing in writing about the arrangement. The judge said that the matter “must be solved amicably between the concerned members of the jomeea, like it always has been over the years”.
They are not the only ones whose cases have been rejected by the courts. Cheated people do not usually talk about their predicament because of the shame.
In rare circumstances, courts have convicted people for defrauding their jomeea partners. Laila Moosawi, a nurse, who was swindled out of more than 3,200 rials by a jomeea, said she and other members successfully prosecuted the man responsible for the crime, but she did not see a penny of her investment.
“Though we had nothing in writing between us, we paid by cheques and the bank easily traced the money in his account when it was his turn to receive the cash. We managed to put him in prison on that basis. It helped because he was in the country and admitted what he had done,” Mrs Moosawi said. “We did not get our money because the criminal said that he spent it. Though we had the satisfaction of seeing him get a two-year sentence, we are severely short of cash. The man will come out eventually from jail to spend the 16,000 rials.”
The man said he spent it, although it is possible he had secreted it away. Failure to pay back the money factored into his sentence.
In many instances of jomeea fraud, swindlers stop paying once they receive their portion of the money and either disappear or cook up stories of their houses being burgled.
Despite the risk involved, jomeea financing remains prevalent.
“Taking a bank loan, according to Islam is haram [forbidden] because of the reebah [interest]. Jomeea offers people interest-free financing, which gives them assurance that the money they receive is not tainted with usury,” Jalil al Badai, a tribal elder, said.
There are no Islamic banks in Oman. Deeply religious Omanis decline interest on their savings and give instructions to their bank managers that the interest be given to charity. They almost never take bank loans, and this is why the practice survives.
Not all people who participate in a jomeea group join because of their religiosity. Some do it to avoid paying steep interest on bank loans. Omani banks at the moment charge up to eight per cent interest per year.
Mr al Badai has written to the Central Bank for jomeea financing to be recognised by the government and regulated by its financial laws. He has not given up hope that the government will one day regulate jomeea.
“This is not Islamic finance nor is it the conventional western one that we see being practised. Jomeea is an Omani tradition to raise money for the community. It has been practised for centuries and only in the last 10 years do we see people with bad intentions joining. I think the Central Bank must play its role to encourage this tradition from going out of extinction,” Mr al Badai said.
Financial analysts said the local banks’ shareholders saw jomeea as a threat to their business, and some believe that this was the reason it would never be regulated.
“If jomeea is accepted and regulated by the government, then that may well restrict the profitability of the local banks in the long run,” Jassim Battash, a financial analyst with Seeb Investment Services, said.
According to Central Bank statistics, more than 70 per cent of the credit sanctioned by local banks are classified as personal loans.
Reproduced from The National: Omanis count cost of funds fraud
Jomeea is a tradition practised in Omani communities to raise funds for individuals to finance the purchase of a property, such as a farm, or the construction of a house. Each member of the jomeea, on a rotational basis, collects a fixed amount of money from the other members each month.
Members in a jomeea group can be as few as five but regularly number more than 30. The amount of money changing hands ranges from 50 rials to 2,000 rials a month, depending on the financial status of participants. Each member receives the amount he contributed when his turn comes. The person receiving the money continues to contribute until the round ends.
Jomeeas are completely legal, though susceptible to dishonest members, and frowned upon by bankers here.
Hundreds of people across the country have been swindled over the years, but there are no statistics because the jomeea is not an officially sanctioned practice and the government has repeatedly said it does not get involved in private financial arrangements. The Central Bank of Oman, in a recent statement, refused to regulate the practice, saying it was an arrangement incompatible with standard international financial practices.
For Mohammed Shaikhan, 36, a mechanical engineer, the jomeea due would have been 28,500 rials with which he planned to partly finance his house in Muscat. Mr Shaikhan said a member of his jomeea left the country for Africa after collecting the money in his round – and never returned.
“The man just disappeared with our money and we believe he is out of the country. I suspect he is somewhere in Africa, where he cannot be found,” Mr Sheikhan said. “It is embarrassing to talk about it that 20 people can be swindled by a seemingly nice man.”
Mr Shaikhan and his friends’ case was rejected by the court since there was nothing in writing about the arrangement. The judge said that the matter “must be solved amicably between the concerned members of the jomeea, like it always has been over the years”.
They are not the only ones whose cases have been rejected by the courts. Cheated people do not usually talk about their predicament because of the shame.
In rare circumstances, courts have convicted people for defrauding their jomeea partners. Laila Moosawi, a nurse, who was swindled out of more than 3,200 rials by a jomeea, said she and other members successfully prosecuted the man responsible for the crime, but she did not see a penny of her investment.
“Though we had nothing in writing between us, we paid by cheques and the bank easily traced the money in his account when it was his turn to receive the cash. We managed to put him in prison on that basis. It helped because he was in the country and admitted what he had done,” Mrs Moosawi said. “We did not get our money because the criminal said that he spent it. Though we had the satisfaction of seeing him get a two-year sentence, we are severely short of cash. The man will come out eventually from jail to spend the 16,000 rials.”
The man said he spent it, although it is possible he had secreted it away. Failure to pay back the money factored into his sentence.
In many instances of jomeea fraud, swindlers stop paying once they receive their portion of the money and either disappear or cook up stories of their houses being burgled.
Despite the risk involved, jomeea financing remains prevalent.
“Taking a bank loan, according to Islam is haram [forbidden] because of the reebah [interest]. Jomeea offers people interest-free financing, which gives them assurance that the money they receive is not tainted with usury,” Jalil al Badai, a tribal elder, said.
There are no Islamic banks in Oman. Deeply religious Omanis decline interest on their savings and give instructions to their bank managers that the interest be given to charity. They almost never take bank loans, and this is why the practice survives.
Not all people who participate in a jomeea group join because of their religiosity. Some do it to avoid paying steep interest on bank loans. Omani banks at the moment charge up to eight per cent interest per year.
Mr al Badai has written to the Central Bank for jomeea financing to be recognised by the government and regulated by its financial laws. He has not given up hope that the government will one day regulate jomeea.
“This is not Islamic finance nor is it the conventional western one that we see being practised. Jomeea is an Omani tradition to raise money for the community. It has been practised for centuries and only in the last 10 years do we see people with bad intentions joining. I think the Central Bank must play its role to encourage this tradition from going out of extinction,” Mr al Badai said.
Financial analysts said the local banks’ shareholders saw jomeea as a threat to their business, and some believe that this was the reason it would never be regulated.
“If jomeea is accepted and regulated by the government, then that may well restrict the profitability of the local banks in the long run,” Jassim Battash, a financial analyst with Seeb Investment Services, said.
According to Central Bank statistics, more than 70 per cent of the credit sanctioned by local banks are classified as personal loans.
Reproduced from The National: Omanis count cost of funds fraud
Friday, 2 October 2009
Love is the tender trap in Oman
MUSCAT // It should be the happiest day of their lives but for many young Omani couples the custom of paying exorbitant dowries is placing their marriages under huge financial strain and leading to a growing number of unmarried women.
Across the Gulf, bride’s families receive money from the groom’s family, but in Oman the dowry sums can be as high as 10,000 rials (Dh96,000) in cash. The brides also expect to receive expensive jewellery that costs thousands more and, in most instances, a lavish ceremony that lasts several days.
“It is not right. It is time we break this bad habit because it works out negatively in our society,” said Fatma Fallahy, a 74-year-old marriage counsellor. “It is just pure greed that has got nothing to do with our tradition or religion. It also ruins the prospective marriages of many young people.”
One Omani man said that it cost him nearly 20,000 rials to marry his college sweetheart, money that would have moved them out of a rented accommodation and helped pay for their own house.
“By the time I paid the dowry, the five-star hotel’s reception cost, traditional ceremonies and gifts, I ... used up almost all my savings,” said Rashid al Habsi, a computer software engineer. “The message from my father-in-law at the time was: ‘you want her, then you pay for her’, but the money ended our dreams of owning a house for many years to come.”
Some men take crippling loans from banks to finance marriages they cannot afford so they can be with the women they love. More well-off families tend to help the grooms with the payments. In extreme cases, such marriages end in matrimonial disaster.
“My brother’s marriage ended just a year and a half later from both the financial constraint of running a family and blaming his father-in-law for putting them in a dire condition,” Mr al Habsi added.
Matchmakers, who are still used by most Omanis, say some men avoid marrying their compatriots, preferring low-cost weddings with foreign women.
“It is getting popular and the number is growing,” said Rahila Saif, a Muscat-based matchmaker. “They get married to Indian, Pakistani, Filipino and European women, and who can blame them? They get a fair bargain while our women struggle with local suitors.”
The number of unmarried women in Oman is growing. Although the government does not keep statistics, thirty years ago the age of marriage for women was between 18 and 22. Now, Mrs Saif said, women in their mid thirties are still looking for husbands.
The potential bride’s father usually sets the dowry fee when he wants to finance an expensive purchase or simply boost his bank balance, turning daughters into costly commodities. In villages, the most common purchase with dowry money is a farm, and in cities a property that can provide an income from rent.
“In some cases I know, fathers of the brides even buy bonds or invest the money in shares, things as ridiculous as that,” said Nasser al Khaboori, a Muscat-based investment banker. “They don’t really care that while they enrich themselves, they give their daughters and sons-in-laws a bad start to their marriage by cutting down their financial resources.”
Some women know nothing about their future husbands and are forced to marry by fathers eager to cash in.
Such marriages, which are usually practised in villages, involve much older men giving marriage proposals to the father, who chooses a groom for his daughter from the highest bidder.
“[It is] just like a goat auction. These men treat their daughters as livestock rather than humans,” Mr Khaboori said.
Fathers who demand huge dowries defend themselves by claiming the payment is their right.
“I have spent thousands for the upkeep of my children and I need a little compensation.” said Hamdani al Mansoori, a 66-year-old retired civil servant who married off three daughters at an average dowry of 4,500 rials each. “Besides, who says marriages are cheap? A man looking for a wife needs to prove his financial standing before making a proposal,” he said.
Mr Mansoori, who lives in Muscat, said he used the money to help buy a property from which the rent augments his pension.
sshaibany@thenational.ae
Source: The National, Love is the tender trap in Oman
Across the Gulf, bride’s families receive money from the groom’s family, but in Oman the dowry sums can be as high as 10,000 rials (Dh96,000) in cash. The brides also expect to receive expensive jewellery that costs thousands more and, in most instances, a lavish ceremony that lasts several days.
“It is not right. It is time we break this bad habit because it works out negatively in our society,” said Fatma Fallahy, a 74-year-old marriage counsellor. “It is just pure greed that has got nothing to do with our tradition or religion. It also ruins the prospective marriages of many young people.”
One Omani man said that it cost him nearly 20,000 rials to marry his college sweetheart, money that would have moved them out of a rented accommodation and helped pay for their own house.
“By the time I paid the dowry, the five-star hotel’s reception cost, traditional ceremonies and gifts, I ... used up almost all my savings,” said Rashid al Habsi, a computer software engineer. “The message from my father-in-law at the time was: ‘you want her, then you pay for her’, but the money ended our dreams of owning a house for many years to come.”
Some men take crippling loans from banks to finance marriages they cannot afford so they can be with the women they love. More well-off families tend to help the grooms with the payments. In extreme cases, such marriages end in matrimonial disaster.
“My brother’s marriage ended just a year and a half later from both the financial constraint of running a family and blaming his father-in-law for putting them in a dire condition,” Mr al Habsi added.
Matchmakers, who are still used by most Omanis, say some men avoid marrying their compatriots, preferring low-cost weddings with foreign women.
“It is getting popular and the number is growing,” said Rahila Saif, a Muscat-based matchmaker. “They get married to Indian, Pakistani, Filipino and European women, and who can blame them? They get a fair bargain while our women struggle with local suitors.”
The number of unmarried women in Oman is growing. Although the government does not keep statistics, thirty years ago the age of marriage for women was between 18 and 22. Now, Mrs Saif said, women in their mid thirties are still looking for husbands.
The potential bride’s father usually sets the dowry fee when he wants to finance an expensive purchase or simply boost his bank balance, turning daughters into costly commodities. In villages, the most common purchase with dowry money is a farm, and in cities a property that can provide an income from rent.
“In some cases I know, fathers of the brides even buy bonds or invest the money in shares, things as ridiculous as that,” said Nasser al Khaboori, a Muscat-based investment banker. “They don’t really care that while they enrich themselves, they give their daughters and sons-in-laws a bad start to their marriage by cutting down their financial resources.”
Some women know nothing about their future husbands and are forced to marry by fathers eager to cash in.
Such marriages, which are usually practised in villages, involve much older men giving marriage proposals to the father, who chooses a groom for his daughter from the highest bidder.
“[It is] just like a goat auction. These men treat their daughters as livestock rather than humans,” Mr Khaboori said.
Fathers who demand huge dowries defend themselves by claiming the payment is their right.
“I have spent thousands for the upkeep of my children and I need a little compensation.” said Hamdani al Mansoori, a 66-year-old retired civil servant who married off three daughters at an average dowry of 4,500 rials each. “Besides, who says marriages are cheap? A man looking for a wife needs to prove his financial standing before making a proposal,” he said.
Mr Mansoori, who lives in Muscat, said he used the money to help buy a property from which the rent augments his pension.
sshaibany@thenational.ae
Source: The National, Love is the tender trap in Oman
Sunday, 27 September 2009
Female beggars on the rise in Muscat
MUSCAT // Women from Iraq, Palestine and Afghanistan, many of them covered from head to toe in black abayas, approach cars and people at petrol stations, ATMs, shopping malls and even knock on the doors of private houses to beg for money.
Some of them cradle babies with tears in their eyes asking for compassion from “fellow Muslims” for help, pleading that the infants are orphans whose fathers were killed during the occupation of their countries.
“We are the victims of the American injustice who made our children fatherless and we have nowhere to go but come here,” begged one Afghan woman named Zulekha, standing outside a shopping mall.
Observers say that many times, the begging women refuse to accept small amounts of money, which is increasing resentment among locals, raising questions about whether they are genuine and in real need.
“Genuine poor people accept whatever they can get. I think they are fakes and scroungers who are looking to take advantage of our conscience. We should not give them anything since that will encourage more of them to come here,” Ahmed al Raisy, a security guard at the Lulu shopping mall, said.
The beggars are part of a racket organised in the host countries by people paying the beggars’ travelling expenses, some local expatriates claim.
But other residents disagree. “These women have no other choice but to leave their countries since they live in appalling conditions with no one to depend on after the deaths of their husbands during conflicts in places like Iraq and Palestine,” said Hussain Abdulrasool, an Iraqi expatriate in Oman. “Oman is one of the prime targets because it is easy to get a visa for Arab nationals and its people are much more tolerant than in other GCC countries.”
Some expatriates, however, blame their own for the appearance of the aggressive beggars, saying that they send their wives out to beg and make them wear veils to conceal their identities and increase their income.
“I know for a fact, one or two of my fellow expatriates, out of pure greed, have their own wives beg in the streets to increase their income. It is a shameful practice but it is the truth,” Abdullah Khaliq, an Afghan transport supervisor, said.
Oman has a population of just over three million people, about one-quarter of wºhom are foreign workers, according to official statistics. Oman also hosts more than a million visitors a year, mainly people from Arab states and South Asian countries visiting their relatives.
The sultanate relaxed visa rules three years ago to encourage tourism and help diversify the economy.
“We should not blame the government for allowing more people to come to Oman. We should blame expatriates and visitors for taking advantage.
“If it goes on for too long, these women may turn the begging racket into prostitution. Then we will have a real problem,” Mr al Raisy, said.
Places of worship are a favourite haunt for foreign men waiting at the door after prayers with outstretched hands. One middle-aged Iraqi man, who identified himself as Qassim, pulled his shirt up to reveal two ghastly scars across his stomach and ribs outside a mosque.
“This was a bullet from Saddam’s soldiers six years ago and the other wound was inflicted three months ago by the Sunni terrorists in Basra. They killed my family and wrecked my home … now I am not fit for work,” he told worshippers leaving a Shia mosque in Muscat.
Religious leaders fear that beggars with stories of sectarian violence from their homelands will encourage tension among people of the three major Islamic sects – Ibadhi, Sunni and Shiite – practiced in the sultanate.
foreign.desk@thenational.ae
Source: The National, Female beggars on the rise in Muscat
Some of them cradle babies with tears in their eyes asking for compassion from “fellow Muslims” for help, pleading that the infants are orphans whose fathers were killed during the occupation of their countries.
“We are the victims of the American injustice who made our children fatherless and we have nowhere to go but come here,” begged one Afghan woman named Zulekha, standing outside a shopping mall.
Observers say that many times, the begging women refuse to accept small amounts of money, which is increasing resentment among locals, raising questions about whether they are genuine and in real need.
“Genuine poor people accept whatever they can get. I think they are fakes and scroungers who are looking to take advantage of our conscience. We should not give them anything since that will encourage more of them to come here,” Ahmed al Raisy, a security guard at the Lulu shopping mall, said.
The beggars are part of a racket organised in the host countries by people paying the beggars’ travelling expenses, some local expatriates claim.
But other residents disagree. “These women have no other choice but to leave their countries since they live in appalling conditions with no one to depend on after the deaths of their husbands during conflicts in places like Iraq and Palestine,” said Hussain Abdulrasool, an Iraqi expatriate in Oman. “Oman is one of the prime targets because it is easy to get a visa for Arab nationals and its people are much more tolerant than in other GCC countries.”
Some expatriates, however, blame their own for the appearance of the aggressive beggars, saying that they send their wives out to beg and make them wear veils to conceal their identities and increase their income.
“I know for a fact, one or two of my fellow expatriates, out of pure greed, have their own wives beg in the streets to increase their income. It is a shameful practice but it is the truth,” Abdullah Khaliq, an Afghan transport supervisor, said.
Oman has a population of just over three million people, about one-quarter of wºhom are foreign workers, according to official statistics. Oman also hosts more than a million visitors a year, mainly people from Arab states and South Asian countries visiting their relatives.
The sultanate relaxed visa rules three years ago to encourage tourism and help diversify the economy.
“We should not blame the government for allowing more people to come to Oman. We should blame expatriates and visitors for taking advantage.
“If it goes on for too long, these women may turn the begging racket into prostitution. Then we will have a real problem,” Mr al Raisy, said.
Places of worship are a favourite haunt for foreign men waiting at the door after prayers with outstretched hands. One middle-aged Iraqi man, who identified himself as Qassim, pulled his shirt up to reveal two ghastly scars across his stomach and ribs outside a mosque.
“This was a bullet from Saddam’s soldiers six years ago and the other wound was inflicted three months ago by the Sunni terrorists in Basra. They killed my family and wrecked my home … now I am not fit for work,” he told worshippers leaving a Shia mosque in Muscat.
Religious leaders fear that beggars with stories of sectarian violence from their homelands will encourage tension among people of the three major Islamic sects – Ibadhi, Sunni and Shiite – practiced in the sultanate.
foreign.desk@thenational.ae
Source: The National, Female beggars on the rise in Muscat
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