Comparison / Contrast Essay

Elamin, Abdallah M.

Professor Mohd Muzhafar Idrus

Gold A2

4 April 2010

The Marriage in Comparison Between
Libyan Customs And American’s



Marriage in all the languages means to be true , faithful and loving to another human being , no matter what country takes place in , no matter what culture it is part of ; Unlike Libya , America customs are big different in terms of the proposing , the officiating , the ceremony of celebrating , the way life works ,and some quirks in the wedding day ; and are similar in some ways like the marriage season , the clothes of the spouse , the party and the singing .

In Libya ,where the Islam religion is fully obeyed, the term "zwaj" is used to refer to the marriage . According to a web site,” the conception of zwaj in Islam is a religious duty and consequently a moral safeguard as well as a social necessity “, (Marriage in Islam 3-4). Thus it is prohibited to date or get in contact with a girl before the zwaj, as the love is not that important in this stage compared with the reputation, the religion _"taqwa and Iman", and the standard living level of both families, whereas in America they used to be dating and meeting girls individually until they reach to an agreement point. Moreover , Libyan marriage is officiated by an Imam ;meanwhile , the groom attends with the bride's father who acts as a representative of his daughter, then both of them signs the contract in front of two witnesses ;indeed , signing the contract usually takes a place in the bride's home ; while American’s is conducted by the Priest and the venue for most American wedding is a church where the best man comes , the flower girls, the families and the friends are too , then the spouse exchange vows and rings , after that they kiss each other , (American Wedding Traditions, 25-31) ; however , it is not an obligation to have a wedding certificate and everything else , it is up to the couples. Furthermore, each spouse in Libyan wedding ceremony makes his own celebration by inviting the friends and the neighbors in his or her house, while in America the invitation is being in a restaurant. Another point, the most significantly American wedding custom is "Throwing The Rice"; that most brides want that to be involved in their wedding day as that indicates, in their believes, the prosperity, the enduring bountiful life (Oliveri, Deenise, 14-19), but in Libya the invitees used to bring durable and expensive gifts to encourage the spouse - zwaj life and express the ambition to be long life. Finally ,it is anomaly in Libya's customs of a wife to work ; in fact , the groom is used to be the breadwinner and the wife takes care of the home affairs ;in contrast , Americans used to share the life expenses between the spouse as well as the house work .
On the other hand, both countries are somewhat similar. For example, in both countries June is the high season of marriage; of course the weather is the most important factor in this issue (Oliveri, Deenise, 20-24). In addition, wearing the white western wedding gown and the veil over the bride's face and the black suit for the groom is common in both countries as well as having a dinner party after the announcing of the marriage. The last point is that American use traditional songs to celebrate the marriage such as " Heaven is a Place on Earth ", "Times Like These ", "Forget Every Thing "or " Swing, Swing "(Sound Tracks For American Wedding), and so do Libyans, the poets participate by their poems of " Love and Life ", and local singers by public songs like "Hobi Ween Khadoha Menni "and "Bent Algeran ".

In brief, the marriage customs is different from country to country according to the religion, or the distinct tradition of the people; However, the world today becomes a small village because of the advanced communication technology so that the marriage customs also are getting identical in many ways such as the clothing, the aspects of the ceremony, and the songs being repeated.




Works cited


N.P. “The Marriage in Islam.”.N.D.http://jannah.org/sisters/marr.html.

N.P. “American Wedding Traditions” .N.D. http://travour.com/weddings/world-wedding-%20traditions/american-wedding-traditions.html.

N.P. “Sound Traks for American Wedding” . 2003 . http://imdb.com/title/tt0328828/soundtrack.

Oliveri,Deenise. “American Wedding Customs” . 19 May 2008 http://wedding-%20planning.%20suite101.com/article.cfm/american_wedding_customs.







The second draft

The Marriage in Comparison Between
Libyan Customs And American’s

Marriage in all the languages means to be true , faithful and loving to another human being , no matter what country takes place in , no matter what culture it is part of
; Unlike Libya , America customs are big different in terms of the proposing , the officiating , the ceremony of celebration , the way life works ,and some quirks in the wedding day ; and are similar in some ways like the marriage season , the clothes of the spouse , the party and the singing .

In Libya ,where the Islam religion is fully obeyed, the term "zwaj" is used to refer to the marriage and it is prohibited to date or get in contact with a girl before the zwaj , as the love is not that important in this stage compared with the the reputation , the religion _"taqwa and Iman",and the standard living level of both families , whereas in America they used to be dating and meeting girls individually until they reach to an agreement point ; moreover , Libyan marriage is officiated by an Imam ;meanwhile , the groom attends with the bride's father who acts as a representative of his daughter, then both of them signs the contract in front of two witnesses, signing the contract usually takes a place in the bride's home ; while American wedding ceremony usually in a church with a presence of the priest and the families of the spouse , then the spouse repeat some traditional saying as a promise and the rings , after that they kiss each other ; however , sometimes there is no need to have a wedding certificate, it is up to the couples ;furthermore , each spouse in Libyan wedding ceremony makes his own celebration by inviting the friends and the neighbors in his or her house , while in America the invitations are being in a restaurant . Another point, the most significantly American wedding custom is "Throwing The Rice"; that most brides want that to be involved in their wedding day as that indicates, in their believes, the prosperity, the enduring bountiful life, but in Libya the invitees used to bring durable and expensive gifts to encourage the spouse - zwaj life and express the ambition to be long life. Finally, it is anomaly in Libya's customs of a wife to work, the groom is used to be the breadwinner and so the wife takes care of the home affairs; in contrast, Americans used to share the life expenses between the spouse as well as the house work.

On the other hand , both countries are somewhat similar , for example , in both countries June is the high season of marriage ,of course the weather is the most important factor in this issue;in addition ,wearing the white western wedding gown and the veil over the bride's face and the black suit for the groom is common in both countries as well as having a dinner party after the announcing of the marriage . The last point is that American use traditional songs to celebrate the marriage such as " Heaven is a Place on Earth ", "Times Like These ", "Forget Every Thing "or " Swing , Swing " and so do Libyans , the poets participate by their poems of " Love and Life ", and local singers by public songs like "Hobi Ween Khadoha Menni "and "Bent Algeran ".

In brief , the marriage customs is different from country to country according to the religion ,or the distinct tradition of the people ; However , the world today becomes a small village because of the advanced communication technology so the marriage customs also are getting identical in many ways such as the clothing , the aspects of the ceremony,and the songs being repeated .










The first draft

Free writing

marriage customs

Libya and America are defferent from each other in some marriage customs .
For example , Unlike America ,Libya use the term "zwaj" to refer to the marriage .
The dating or getting in contact with a girl before the zwaj is prohibted , as the most conciderable things are the reputation , the religion _"taqwa and Iman",and the standard living level of both families but in America they date and meete individually until to find their match
Libyan marriage is officiated by an Imam in front of two witnesses which takes a place in the bride's home ; while in the venue for most American wedding is a church where the best man comes ,families and the friends are too .
Each spouse in Libyan wedding makes his celeberation individually and invite the friends and the neighbors in his or her house , while in America the invitation is usually in a restaurant .
"Throwing The Rice"is an American significant custom as that indicates the good luck , but in Libya the invitees used to bring durable and expensive gifts to express the ambition to be long life . the Libyan groom is the breadwinner and the wife takes care of the home affairs ;in contrast , Americans used to share the life expenses between them as well as the house work .
On the other hand , there are some similarity between the two countrries in terms of the time of marriage , the clothes , and the songs , for examples ,
in both countries June is the common season of marriage ,
wearing the white western wedding gown and the veil over the bride's face and the black suit for the groom is common in both countries as well as having a dinner party after the announcing of the marriage
American use traditional songs to celebrate the marriage and so do Libyans .


Conclusion

In brief ,Amirecan marrriage is different from Libyan’s in terms of the basic conception of marriage like the way of finding the match ; However there are a lot of things in common between them like the aspects of the ceremony , and the apearance of the spouse .




Out line

The Marriage in Comparison Between
Libyan Customs And American’s

Introduction

Marriage in all the languages means to be true , faithful and loving to another human being , no matter what country takes place in , no matter what culture it is part of; Howevere To compare Libyan marriage with American’s you find both of them do the same things in somehow different ways because of the religion and the tradition .

Body

Differences:
1-the distinct name
2- Selecting the partner .
3- officiating manner and where it takes a place
4- the way of celebrating the wedding day.
5 – quirks in the wedding day .
6 – the spouse life

Similarities :
1- The time of marriage .
2- The clothing
3- The traditional songs
.

Coclusion :
In brief ,Amirecan marrriage is different from Libyan’s in terms of the basic conception of marriage like the way of finding the match and in other word there are a lot of things in common between them like the aspects of the ceremony , and the apearance of the spouse .