What is an Orfi marriage?
An Orfi marriage as it is defined and practiced in Egypt means a man and a woman (in many cases an Egyptian man and a foreign woman) simply agree to be married, neither giving or receiving ANY LEGAL RIGHTS. The man proposes and the woman accepts his proposal in front of a minimum of two witnesses.
In most cases a simple document is written to this effect, usually by a lawyer, stating names, birthdates, and civil ID numbers, in which both bride and groom and their witnesses sign in the presence of the attorney. There may be varying kinds of Orfi marriages, but this is the basic scenario.
Egypt is a Muslim majority country and I would venture to say most Orfi marriages are carried out with a Muslim groom. I would also venture that most Egyptian men who enter into an Orfi marriage are already legally married to at least one other Egyptian woman--the first wife--and this second, Orfi marriage is being conducted in secret. Again, there are various versions of this scenario. Some Orfi wives live in total secrecy and no one knows they are married. In my case, my husband's first legal Egyptian wife lived in another city, and he married me in Cairo. Our friends and neighbors knew about our marriage, but his wife and extended family did not.
The important thing to understand about Orfi marriage is that it absolutely is NOT a legal document recognized by the Egyptian government.
In fact, in almost all cases, it isnt worth the paper it is printed on, even when drawn up by an attorney! It is basically used as protection in the case of a man and woman who want to live as husband ad wife--in one form or another--but choose NOT to do it legally--for various reasons. Simply, if the couple are caught having sex together, the Orfi document only serves to prevent them from being accused of adultery and/or fornication (zinna) and thus thrown into jail. The police and government officials may turn their heads in this case, but it doesnt mean they give the document any legal weight. In fact, in many famous tourist areas in Egypt, such as Sharm al Sheikh, Hurghada, Gouna, North Coast, Mersa Metrouh, etc, both locals and foreigners refer to the Orfi document as "fuck papers" ! And they are, basically, good just for that. Not only are they NOT LEGAL, they are NOT ISLAMICLY correct, therefore they are haraam (forbidden).
What is the difference between an Orfi marriage and an Islamic marriage?
In some cases, they can overlap. One can make an Orfi marriage an Islamic marriage as well, by including two additional conditions. First, the groom must give the bride a mahr (dowry) which is usually a gift of money or gold, but in reality can be anything, even something as simple as teaching her Quran or taking her to make Hajj. The bride just has to agree on exactly what the dowry will be. The second condition is that they make the marriage public, at least to some degree, perhaps by telling her family and friends, or the couple's immediate neighbors. (In most cases the groom will NOT inform his own family!)
