Professor Isma’eel ‘Abd al-Baari's study has no credibility. In medieval Europe arranged marriages were normal and divorce was exceedingly rare. http://goo.gl/rYlkS That doesn't mean that medieval Europe was a better place to live in than today's Europe. It was a time when too much emphasis was placed on conformity and control and not enough on freedom and respect for the individual. Fortunately, attitudes change. Unfortunately, people like Professor Isma'eel 'Abd al-Baari haven't yet managed to shake off their cultural prejudices.

he works for! All I mean to say is... dig deeper. Find out. =) At any rate, I've made alot of claims. Don't believe them! Verify them =)

special interest groups, in my country notoriously for the oil corporations and the anti-climate-change-science lobby. I've seen questionable and politically motivated genetic studies come out of israel in an attempt to validate their government's position and policies in many ways, particularly attempts to distance themselves genetically from the native palestinians, and to link their european population with the Jewish diaspora of the distant past. We also see alot of questionable research coming from self-proclaimed 'think tanks' in the united states attempting to "disprove" evolution or rather misinform the public about it, often funded by radical fundamentalist christian organizations. These are of course, extreme examples. Oftentimes results are NOT intentionally misleading... sometimes it's just an oversight of those conducting the research, sometimes they've never had appropriate training on how to conduct experiments, and sometimes it's just media citing parts of the study out of context in order to have a sensational story to sell. Don't forget, media will often present both sides of an issue, regardless of the validity of the science. If it is to be truly impartial and informing, good media should always be asking how the research was conducted. But that's not good for the corporate bottom line =) But some important questions to always ask are "Who is conducting this research? Who funds their organization? What motivation do they have for conducting their research? Who could benefit from my being convinced of this? Who is paying for this information to reach me? How likely is it that bias may be affecting the results?" And when you're not sure, it's usually a good idea to stick to research that's published in credible peer-reviewed journals. Be critical =) Of course, please don't think I'm intentionally trying to discredit the research of Professor Isma'eel 'Abd al-Baari. I don't even know who he is or what exactly he has claimed or who h

Consider the happiness and/or hope derived from living up to one's ideals compared with the day-to-day inconvenience of living with someone you may not really like. Personal happiness in a marriage may not be a significant factor to some of these individuals; that makes it alot easier to stay married. Also consider that it might be much easier to get along with someone with a similar belief systems and compatible ethics. Not to mention all that you'd have in common. And maybe some of these sects really genuinely do foster a higher propensity for healthy resolution of disagreements and conflicts. There are alot of questions to ask =) Some very interesting positive research to conduct might be "what is different about this 25% that their marriages are succeeding?" I suspect you might find the answers have alot of overlap with what makes most arranged marriages succeed. Another distinction we might want to consider is the difference between 'staying married' and a healthy, happy marriage. At least some of those 25% are likely dissatisfied but their motivations to stay married outweigh their motivation to get divorced. We have to look at our criteria for "successful." Is staying married all that matters to our research? If we publish without making this distinction, our results could be misleading to the readers. At the end of the day, the results of ANY study are not nearly as important as how the experiment was conducted. If the scientific method isn't properly applied, the results of the data sets are likely to be skewed, and misleading (possibly intentionally). You have to be really careful believing statistics, because creating invalid, misleading research is common practice (and sometimes the primary purpose) of research groups trying to convince people of a certain point of view, rather than ones who are genuinely interested in discovering what the science itself actually indicates. These research groups are often working at the behest of spec

account the differences in the psychological demographics of the individuals involved. That is to say, the people who would get an arranged marriage often have quite different beliefs, personalities, and domestic influences and it is difficult to compare them and their social interactions to individuals who have more fully embraced western ideals, up to and including love marriage. I'm sure you can think of a few 'westernized' acquaintances with the same cultural background as you that you don't see eye to eye with on alot of traditional issues. I'm not sure these studies you're citing address these issues in their comparisons, and as such I'm not sure you should be afraid to marry someone you love based solely on the results of this research. But no matter who you marry, know this: living with anyone is a choice and maintaining a healthy, loving relationship with them does take work. And some people are more compatible than others, and some people are easier to get along with than others too =) At any rate, your assumption is not stupid at all! It's quite accurate to say that divorce rates among people having love marriages are quite high. But be very careful making assumptions about the cause of the consequence. There are alot of variables involved. A good question to ask is, if westerners and westernized people started having arranged marriages instead of love marriages, would they be more inclined to have successful marriages? Given our cultural predisposition to distance ourselves from people rather than resolve our issues with them, I think it's highly doubtful we would have less divorce. On the other hand, if we also had a shift in cultural context... we may see quite different results. Consider for example, the low divorce rates of certain religious sects in the U.S. where fervent belief is at the very core of everything they do. There are many, many ways this could have an effect on marriage. Consider social pressures to stay married. Con