Also you will notice that the thread opener has provided a rational basis for not changing the surname i.e. out of honour for the husband, or in the case of multiple divorce/widow states ... a woman can potentially have many husbands but can only have one father, or due to the fact that the best women i.e. the wives of Rasulullah never did so either.
Arguments were given, its just that I (gulp!) think they don't pass the test of common sense. While the first reason here is dicey at best, the second is a valid Arab culture, and as I said in my opening post, its perfectly Islamic, I just don't see how this is the only **Islamic way of doing things. Why do we keep super-imposing Arab cultural traits and brand them as the **only Islamic way of doing things?