The "Female Syrian Refugees for Marriage" Facebook page is back online after it was blocked following a large number of complaints.
The administrators simply dressed up the page in Islamic garb and insert verses from the Holy Koran, replacing the random images of women, taken from social networking sites and Google.
"It is a legitimate marriage and it doesn’t contradict with the Sunnah of the Prophet Mohammed, it is not a slave trade, God forbid," the administrators said on the page.
Despite the claim, visitors to the page easily recognize how it underestimates human dignity in general, and humiliates Syrian women.
This is a dirty trade that exploits the Syrian case for trade in prostitution and has no religious or moral legitimacy, no matter how different opinions on it were.
Sharing the house together is more honorable, especially under the circumstances, than this trade.
Putting aside conspiracies about who is behind these pages, there is something ridiculous about them. The "religious administrator" asks visitors to correct his mistakes if he made them, but none of the comments express support for the concept of the page; it is filled with criticism and insults, but they insist on continuing the bastard project (and we apologize for the readers for the language).
One visitor commented, addressing the administrator: "I want to marry your sister this way, do you accept?".
Another comment accused the administrators explicitly of "pimping", in what is perhaps the closest expression of the ethical reality.
The comments don’t lack irony; one post says "the most important thing to be legitimate!".
The precious page had attracted Arab visitors who were the fiercest defenders of the Syrian women. An Egyptian wrote that Syrian women have never been cheap, while another woman promised to hold the administrators of the page accountable.
The old page was established on 16 May last year, and gained about 17,000 followers before it was shut down. It was filled with insults, with one calling it "the slavery page."
Some likened it to an "international supermarket" which called for customers from all Arab countries to marry "secretly, customarily or legally" refugee girls in all parts of the Arab world, from different ages and religions.
Translated and edited by The Syrian Observer
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