(1) Why are you still a bachelor? (2) Has your opinion of marriage changed from what it was before?

My assignment was to visit the honorable journalists — "and a fine visit it was" — and to put to them the following questions: - Why

are you still a bachelor? - And has your opinion of marriage changed from what it was before, and why?

Said Freiha

- I did not dare assail him with the question, for he was in a state that warned of an approaching storm. So I took refuge in all sorts of distant questions that circled around the intended target... - Tell me, Ustad, is marriage happiness?... - He threw his pen aside and began looking at me inquiringly, then said: - Marriage! Happiness... you must be mad! Marriage is paradise — but what do you want from me? I am a married man with a chain around my neck! Go ask Hanna Ghosn... - But say: aren't you regretful? Here he thought a little before answering in the negative, as though he feared something: - No, I am not regretful at

all... and why should I regret? I am the head of a family that I love and that loves me... - But wouldn't you prefer to be free and unfettered?... - I beg you not to thrust yourself into my life and my freedom... I told you I am not regretful, and that is enough... Have you come to overturn for me a life I built with my uprightness and my devotion... - Very well — are you truly devoted to your family?... He sprang up from his seat, and with him sprang up every sign of the whirlwind: - O patience of Job! Will you make me understand what you mean by these cold questions?? I found no way out but to declare that I was the correspondent of "The Woman's Voice" and that I had no personal stake in the matter. - Ah! A correspondent... and you want me to tell you that I am regretful and wretched! You mean to cast me into the inferno with your calm questions that drip with pity... Goodbye! And do not forget that I am the happiest of husbands and the happiest of fathers... and... But he is the most wretched

of journalists and artists, because he is married...

Zuhayr Usayran

He received me with cheer and welcome, the exact opposite of the married men, so I saw no need for twisting and turning in order to question him, and I flung out my question: - Why are you still a bachelor?... - And who told you I am still a bachelor? - Then you are married? - Not at all! I am betwixt and between... - Very well, has your opinion of marriage changed from what it was before? - I told you, Miss, that I have not married yet, and I am not a bachelor. - You have bewildered me, Ustad — are you divorced, then?... - Not at all! I am a candidate for marriage — that is, betrothed... And if my married life proceeds along the same course I am on now, that is, in the era of betrothal, there is no doubt that I shall be among the happiest of the happy... I believe that even now — indeed, I am certain of it... And I left him asserting and swearing that he would be the happiest of husbands (God willing)...

Gibran Tueni..

I knocked at the door

of his splendid office, and his resounding voice answered me.. - Come in... So I entered. - You — what do you want this time.. - Tell me, has your opinion of marriage changed? - No, never. Even if I were a bachelor, even at the age of eighty, I would wish to find a partner for my life. For marriage casts upon a man delightful responsibilities and gives him the feeling that he has founded for himself an independent homeland.. A man's manhood is not complete except through marriage.. Goodbye.

Naim Mughabghab..

His outward appearance was the very opposite of his declaration... - I have not married and I shall not marry

For two considerations that go back to a single cause: for several years now