*Lebanese Muslim brides dance with their new husbands during a mass wedding held at the Roman ruins in the southern port city of Tyre, July 20, 2002. Some 30 Muslim and Christian couples tied the knot on Saturday night, in a joint ceremony staged by the Tyre Festival, designed to overcome financial hindrance to marriage – the festival sponsors the couples’ honeymoon. REUTERS/Marwan Wakim *
"I want to believe that the dead are not lost to us. That they speak to us as part of something greater than us-- greater than any alien force. And if you and I are powerless now, I want to believe that if we listen to what's speaking, it can give us the power to save ourselves."FM
but not entirely new - there have been such ceremonies before in other parts of the world - Korea or Indonesia ( not sure which one ) recently. Well it is more a matter of culture and individual lifestyle in different parts of the world . In some parts of the world the CULTURE and tradition sometimes OVER RULES the original religeous teachings. Not entirely strange to our society too - some ceremonies in weddings and other occasions we have borrowed from the Hindu CULTURE in india like Mehndi and SEHRA etc etc. It is nothing religeous.
Then again comes the question of HIJAB and pardah . Well this also varies from area to area - We start from a head to toe covering in the orthodox areas - and on the other extreme in some countries ( Turkey for example ) we see women mixing freely with men wearing western attire ( Jeans ) - so my dear friends - This should be looked upon as a tradition and cultural trait - rather then judging it on the Religeous scale.
..sure a hubby and wife can dance with each other..as long as it is at an appropriate time and place..ie no non-mehrams for both the hubby and the wife.
No one commented on her beautiful dress or the head scarf, but yet we made every possible judgment & are just short of quoting Quran or Hadiths. Isn't that wonderful? :~)
What does it tell us about ourselves? Maybe someone should figure that out from Quran Hadiths & Sunnah as well.