Salem Ayash, a poet in Yemen, has asked people for one million Facebook likes on a page he set up instead of a traditional monetary dowry.
A dowry is traditionally paid by a man to the father of the bride he is marrying.
Explaining his rationale, Ayash said: “No-one in Yemen can afford dowries anymore.”
Many young men in Yemen can’t afford dowries so they hypothetically cannot get married, Bashraheel Bashraheel, a journalist with Yemen’s Al-Ayyam newspaper, told BBC.
Bashraheel expressed surprise at Ayash’s method.
“It’s the first time we’ve heard of something like this,” he said.
The page was set up on Sunday and has 30, 626 likes so far.
Ayash said that one million is the goal but if his future son-in-law can get close he’s willing to reward effort.
“If I see that he’s worked hard, I’m willing to be flexible to see them happily married.”
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