Despite assumptions to the contrary, marriage practices among Arab Muslims in
eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Nablus in Palestine varied in relation to the social back
ground of the bride and groom. The significance of the indirect dower (mahr), the prevalence of
child and cousin marriage, and the frequency of divorce and remarriage differed according to the
role marriage played in the political and economic life of various urban classes. The records of
the Islamic court, which include marriage contracts and the partition of estates, reveal this
diversity and demonstrate the ways in which a woman's experience of marriage depended on her
social background
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