Saudi men are increasingly falling in love with their housemaids and are marrying them to the surprise of their non-suspicious wives, local newspapers say.
Several local men have taken their maids, mostly Asian, as second wives in line with Islamic law which permits a Muslim man to take four wives at a time.
“Areej still remembers the day when her maid Rita came to her house for the first time. Areej was very nice to her, treated her respectfully and never gave her more work than what she could handle,” ‘Saudi Gazette’ said.
“Not for one second did Areej think that her maid could steal her husband. After all, her husband never liked the maid, he told his wife, and was always avoiding contact with her.

“However, Areej noticed something fishy about her husband’s relationship with the maid. She could swear that something was going on between them.”

The paper said Areej later got suspicious and decided to send the maid back to her homeland.

Five months later, Rita was back in Saudi Arabia, not as a maid but as the official second wife of Areej’s husband, it said.

“Areej was completely shocked. She cannot stop thinking why her husband, of all women out there, married her maid. Is there something wrong with her that made her husband make this decision or is it him who has the problem?”

Samira Abdulmohsin, a Saudi housewife, had a similar experience. Two months after the arrival of her maid, she discovered the relationship between her husband and the maid, who ended up getting married.

“I guess I never thought that my maid would take my husband away from me. He was cheating on me with her and I found out about it.

“What did he see in her? I cannot figure. She is not beautiful or clean,” Samira said.

Another wife, Badriya Khalid, said most housewives forget that maids are women who have feelings and aspire to get married to a well-to-do man.

“Every time my husband says nice things to me, the maid gets jealous. I can tell from her face. I also discovered she uses my make-up and puts on my dresses when I am out.

“She was trying to attract my husband’s attention,” she said.

“I think wives should be blamed as well when their husbands start looking at the maids. A wife should take good care of her husband and never let the maid does it for her.”

The Arabic language daily ‘Al Riyadh’ quoted Dr. Abu Bakr Baqadir, former sociology professor at King Abdulaziz University, as saying that some husbands have “complicated personalities” and want too much care from their wives.

“By care I mean accepted norms in society such as washing his clothes, cooking his favorite food and maintaining her looks.

“If the wife fails in giving the husband this kind of care, he will definitely start thinking about the maid, especially if the latter tries show off her beauty, and he finds this in the maid,” he said.

“I am not saying that wives should act as maids and do nothing but take care of their husbands.

“What I am saying is that wives should have a strong relationship with their husbands, a relationship that is built on mutual respect and love.”

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