Top Saudi cleric: OK to wed young girls

[The Minx]

CNN Link.

(CNN) -- The debate over the practice of men marrying children in Saudi Arabia was back in the spotlight this week, with the kingdom's top cleric refusing to annul the marriage of an 8-year-old girl to a 47-year-old man.

"It is incorrect to say that it's not permitted to marry off girls who are 15 and younger," Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al-Sheikh, the kingdom's grand mufti, said in remarks quoted Wednesday in the regional Al-Hayat newspaper. "A girl aged 10 or 12 can be married. Those who think she's too young are wrong and they are being unfair to her."

The issue of child marriage has been a hot-button topic in the deeply conservative kingdom in recent weeks.

In December, Saudi judge Sheikh Habib Abdallah al-Habib refused to annul the marriage of an 8-year-old girl to a 47-year-old man.

The judge rejected a petition from the girl's mother, whose lawyer said the marriage was arranged by her father to settle a debt with "a close friend." The judge required the girl's husband to sign a pledge that he would not have sex with her until she reaches puberty.

Al-Sheikh was asked during a lecture Monday about parents forcing their underage daughters to marry.

"We hear a lot in the media about the marriage of underage girls," he said, according to the newspaper. "We should know that Shariah law has not brought injustice to women."

Christoph Wilcke, a Saudi Arabia researcher for Human Rights Watch, recently told CNN that his organization has heard many other cases of child marriages.

"We've been hearing about these types of cases once every four or five months because the Saudi public is now able to express this kind of anger, especially so when girls are traded off to older men," Wilcke said.

Wilcke explained that while Saudi ministries may make decisions designed to protect children, "It is still the religious establishment that holds sway in the courts, and in many realms beyond the court."

Last month, Zuhair al-Harithi, a spokesman for the Saudi government-run Human Rights Commission, said his organization is fighting against child marriages.

"The Human Rights Commission opposes child marriages in Saudi Arabia," al-Harithi said. "Child marriages violate international agreements that have been signed by Saudi Arabia and should not be allowed." He added that his organization has been able to intervene and stop at least one child marriage from taking place.

Wajeha al-Huwaider, co-founder of the Society of Defending Women's Rights in Saudi Arabia, told CNN in December that achieving human rights in the kingdom means standing against those who want to "keep us backward and in the Dark Ages."

She said the marriages cause girls to "lose their sense of security and safety. Also, it destroys their feeling of being loved and nurtured. It causes them a lifetime of psychological problems and severe depression."

The Saudi Ministry of Justice has not made any public comment on the issue.

[LadyTevar]

"We hear a lot in the media about the marriage of underage girls," he said, according to the newspaper. "We should know that Shariah law has not brought injustice to women."

BULLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLSHIT!!!

Shariah law is one of the most tyrannical pieces of traditional laws and customs in the world. Every part that involves a woman places her at the status of property.

[The Minx]

"We hear a lot in the media about the marriage of underage girls," he said, according to the newspaper. "We should know that Shariah law has not brought injustice to women."

BULLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLSHIT!!!

Shariah law is one of the most tyrannical pieces of traditional laws and customs in the world. Every part that involves a woman places her at the status of property.

Yea, I chocked on that line too. I was planning on posting on it, but decided to see what people had to say first.

"Shariah law has not brought injustice to women". After all, what is unjust about forcing people into lifelong commitments at such an early age when they cannot give consent? Or just for starters saying "you lot are each worth one-half of one of the guys". Still, it's not surprising. It's not like a Saudi cleric would go and admit that Sharia was unjust, after all.

[Mayabird]

I'm surprised they didn't pull out the usual excuse: Mohammad married his favorite wife Aisha when she was six, and if the prophet did it, it's okay! That's where the whole "it's okay if you don't have sex with her until puberty" part kicks in, since he didn't consummate the marriage until she was nine.

Islam: making pedophilia a-ok since 622 CE!

[LadyTevar]

How do they determine 'puberty', anyway? A set age, or when the poor girl gets her first period?

[Mayabird]

I'm guessing first thing that can be interpreted as a period. The standards were set by some illiterates in the desert, after all. I don't even know how often people (especially the poorer ones) even kept up with their ages.

[Charon]

"We hear a lot in the media about the marriage of underage girls," he said, according to the newspaper. "We should know that Shariah law has not brought injustice to women."

BULLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLSHIT!!!

Shariah law is one of the most tyrannical pieces of traditional laws and customs in the world. Every part that involves a woman places her at the status of property.

Not entirely true from my understanding. Yes in current times it's a piece of shit but, again IIRC, it wasn't until the late nineteenth century that women in Europe and America started getting rights equal to a woman's under Islam. Fun fact, the Sharia has, since it's inception, allowed a woman to divorce and to hold property to name a few things. Mohammed's first wife was actually a wealthy widow who chose to marry him. IIRC, abortion is not (or should not) be illegal under Sharia law because it is seen as strictly a familial dispute (on which the man has the final word, but I digress). Additionally it's hard to group Sharia law all together because, quite frankly, it's not unified like a nation's law system is, Sharia law in Morocco is dealt with very differently from Sharia law in Baghdad.

And Mohammed also married a lot of women, mostly widows and those who were very down on their luck, to them at the time, marraige to a child wasn't a big deal. Kids didn't even really exist, they were just small adults in their eyes.

This is not to excuse Mr. Pedophile however. In this era we know better and the conditions of people are very different. Sharia law is an ancient piece of legislature that is in serious need of a tossing but religions hate doing stuff like that.

[LadyTevar]

Tossing out, or codifying so it's equal in every country that uses it, as well as brought up to date.

[The Minx]

Tossing out, or codifying so it's equal in every country that uses it, as well as brought up to date.

One major problem with Sharia is that it is supposedly divinely mandated, so how do mere mortals amend it? Another problem with it that those who practice it can't seem to agree what it says, even though it is supposedly divinely mandated.

So I vote for tossing it out. If you can amend something, you can replace it and get rid of all the other baggage in the process.