Mixed marriage in Lebanon causes stir
Christian politician Gemayel confirms plan to marry Tadmouri, a Muslim, in October
Phalange party leader Sami Gemayel confirmed on the MTV political talk-show Bi-Mawdu‘iyyah (Objectively) programme on Wednesday evening that he and Carine Tadmouri planned to tie the knot.
Disappointed Lebanese took to social media outlets to express their disenchantment with the scion of a leading Christian family — for marrying a Muslim — though Gemayel was sharp in his retort: “I feel sorry that some people interfere in the lives of a young man and woman trying to build a family, and I tell them, instead of being distracted by people’s lives, care for the country.”
Gemayel said that the wedding would occur on October 1, 2016 at his parish, Mar Mikhayel Church, in Bikfaya, although it was unclear whether Tadmouri would convert to Christianity.
Gemayel is a Maronite Christian whereas Tadmouri, 26, is a Sunni whose family hails from Tripoli and whose mother, Jumana Shahal Timery, is a renowned activist in the French Association for the Protection of Tripoli.
In the interview on Wednesday, Gemayel said there were people trying to “harm” him by interfering in his personal life, and added: “What’s more important to me is the spontaneous meeting that took place [between me and my fiancee], and she didn’t even know I was and I thought she was [only] French at first, because she looked French.”
The Phalange has long been viewed as a far-right Christian party modelled on the Nazi Party in Germany, with a notorious record during the 1975-1990 civil war when its members participated in sectarian killings. Gemayel’s marriage to Tadmouri has opened the party up for the first time in its history to accepting Muslims as members.
Not uncommon
Despite the controversery surrounding Gemayel, religious and sectarian conversions are not uncommon in Lebanon. The most famous Muslim to convert was Amir Bashir Shihab II (17671850), a Sunni who became a Maronite and ruled Christian Mount Lebanon from 1789 to 1840. Riad Al Solh, Lebanon’s first Sunni Prime Minister accepted Shiite beliefs to ensure proper inheritance to his five daughters, given that Sunni regulations allocate the larger part of the inheritance to the closest male relatives — grandfathers, uncles or cousins — if there are no sons.
Modern Lebanese tend to distance themselves from sectarian practices, but it has not prevented commentators from speculating that Gemayel’s decision could negatively impact his political career.