Cairo, Egypt - The country's first female marriage registrar has started work despite complaints by some conservative clerics that the move is against Islam.
MENA, Egypt's official news agency, reported that during her first day on the job, Amal Suleiman Afifi married a couple in a mosque in the Delta town of Zaqaziq, some 45 miles north of Cairo.
The couple moved up their wedding ceremony, attended by hundreds of people, so they could be married Oct. 25 by the 34-year-old Muslim woman.
Many conservative clerics believe Islamic law, or Sharia, bars a woman from becoming a registrar because the legal code states the testimony of two women is equivalent to one man in court. Therefore they believe a marriage contract signed by a woman would be illegal.