GHAZNI CITY (SW) – A number of young individuals in Ghazni say that due to unpleasant customs and high dowry demands among families, they have been engaged for a long time without being able to hold their wedding ceremonies.
Azizullah, a resident of Ghazni who got engaged a year ago, said that he has been unable to arrange his wedding due to economic difficulties and the high dowry. “It is impossible to hold a wedding without going into debt; my fiancé’s family has set the dowry at over 300,000 afghanis, and I still haven’t been able to gather that amount of money,” he added.
Azizullah further mentioned that the adherence of families to these unpleasant customs has led many young people to seek unwanted migration as a means to cover their wedding expenses.
Another resident of Ghazni, Setayesh, who got engaged two years ago, explained that due to the high dowry set by her family, she has yet to start her married life. “My family wanted to set a lower dowry for me; however, I was worried that this would devalue me in the eyes of my husband’s family, so I asked my family to raise my dowry.”
These young individuals stress that unpleasant customs and high family demands are the main obstacles to their marriages.
Several sociologists in Ghazni argue that the imposition of hefty dowries by families has led to increased poverty, reinforced unpleasant customs, raised the marriage age among youths, and negatively affected marital relationships after marriage.
Enayatullah Erfan, a sociologist in Ghazni, said that raising family awareness and promoting group weddings could help eliminate these negative customs surrounding marriage. “The increasing marriage age, rise in domestic violence, and divorce are some of the negative consequences of high wedding expenses. Families should avoid setting exorbitant dowries and other unpleasant customs for the happiness of their children,” he added.
Bashir Asef, a religious scholar, also notes, “People in Afghanistan, despite poverty and economic challenges, are compelled to take loans or migrate to cover their wedding expenses, while none of these customs have a place in Islam.”
While young people in Ghazni express their inability to hold wedding ceremonies, in recent years, due to rising unemployment, high wedding costs, and dowries among families, several charitable organizations in Kabul and other provinces have been organizing mass weddings for hundreds of young couples to help eliminate these unpleasant customs.
