The Grand Mufti of Dubai implored Emirati men to rethink marrying foreigners at a Ramadan majlis this Sunday. According to the Dubai Statistics Centre 30.7 of the marriages enacted in the first half of 2010 were between a foreign woman and an Emirati man, which has apparently ‘forced’ 30,000 Emirati women into spinsterhood (Emirati women are not permitted to marry foreign men). In response to this there has been a proposal to adjust the laws so that Emirati men wanting to marry foreign women will have to obtain special permission, which will only be granted if the wife is Arab or Muslim and the age difference between the couple does not exceed 25 years.