Dubai is famous as a stage for superlatives, but not every story circulating about the city holds up to scrutiny. Some of the best known myths, from the gold vending machine to the police supercars, turn out to be more real than expected, while others prove to be exaggerations. We fact checked what’s really behind the most famous stories about Dubai.
Marriage by Design: The Role of Arranged Weddings
In the United Arab Emirates, arranged marriage remains firmly rooted in the culture, even as the practice keeps evolving. Traditionally, families take on the search for a suitable partner, with background, values and social standing all playing an important role. Matchmaking services and classified ads for marriage are still common in the region, especially among the many South Asian communities. To Western observers the concept often seems strange, yet within the Emirates it is usually understood as a deliberate decision backed by family, not as coercion. Young Emiratis today have considerably more say than earlier generations did: many marriages are now initiated by the couple themselves, with the families simply confirming things officially afterward.