Saudi Cleric Muhammad Musa Al-Sharif Defends the Marrying Off of Under-Age Girls in Saudi Arabia: Atheists, Christians, and Fornicators Are Responsible for Human Rights Treaties
Following are excerpts from an interview with Saudi cleric Muhammad Musa Al-Sharif, which aired on Al-Daleel TV on February 19, 2010.
Interviewer: One is astonished to hear, in a social gathering, an old man bragging about marrying a young girl, and boasting that his bride was given to him as a gift from her father, or that a business deal was struck at the expense of this poor girl, by parents who did not care about her childhood innocence or her humanity, or by parents whose poverty forced them to pay the old man with their daughter.
In today's, show, I will ask my guest, Dr. Al-Sharif, whether it is the right of the parents, or of society, to allow a girl to be married off at the age of 10 or 12 years. The law in the civilized world considers these marriages to be a crime. How are they viewed by our religious law?
[...]
Muhammad Musa Al-Sharif: This issue has been blown entirely out of proportion, and there is confusion about its basics. We say that such a girl is a "minor," but dictionaries do not define a girl as a minor, if she has reached puberty. 'Aisha said that when a girl reaches the age of nine, she becomes a woman. Let's be practical. Let's put all of this aside.
What is the percentage of these marriages in Saudi Arabia? In Saudi Arabia, we have 20 million people. Half of them are women - that's 10 million. According to the most extreme statistics I have read, 3,000 girls under the age of 13 were married off to men more than 20 years their senior. That's 3,000 out of 10 million, more or less.
What does this figure mean?
Interviewer: But don't you think that 3,000 is...
Muhammad Musa Al-Sharif: Allow me... Does 3,000 out of 10 million constitute a social phenomenon?
Interviewer: But even these 3,000 girls have rights.
Muhammad Musa Al-Sharif: Undoubtedly.
Interviewer: We should consider the humane aspect, even if there were only three girls.
[...]
Muhammad Musa Al-Sharif: In many newspapers, it has been suggested that the minimum age for marriage should be 18. Why 18? They said that Saudi Arabia is committed to something called the Human Rights Treaty, which set the minimum age for marriage at 18 years. This is, of course, unacceptable.
Interviewer: Why not?
Muhammad Musa Al-Sharif: I read that the official spokesman for the US government said that the US is worried about the marriage of girls in Saudi Arabia. This is really funny. The rate of child prostitution in American and Western societies is enormous. This is a well-known fact.
Second, all the children whose death was caused by the US in Palestine and Iraq... These people are not ashamed to say that they are worried about Saudi Arabia, even though they caused the deaths of hundreds of thousands of children in Palestine and in Iraq. This is really distorted logic.
Third, when Islamic law refers to a certain issue - we don't need human rights.
[...]
Let's assume that there is a 13-year-old girl... Let's make it 14. Her father sees that she is physically developed, has reached puberty, and has a sense of understanding - nothing in Islamic law prevents him from marrying her off.
[...]
Interviewer: Would you be willing to marry off your 10-year-old daughter to a man in his eighties?
Muhammad Musa Al-Sharif: No, brother, I would not, but there is a difference between Islamic law and its practice. I wouldn't be pleased by this, but I do not forbid it.
[...]
Let's assume that the government listens to these people, God forbid, and sets the minimum age for marriage at 18. There are many good girls who, at the age of 13 or 14, are developed and ready for marriage. There are hundreds of thousands of girls like that in our society. They will not be married off. They will have to wait 3 or 4 years to become 18. This constitutes an injustice to such a large sector of society - compared to the several dozens or hundreds of girls who would be wronged, because of the greed of their fathers.
[...]
We are committed to international treaties as long as they do not violate Islamic law. If they violate Islamic law, we should throw them out, because they are not worth the ink they were written with. With all due respect, the international treaties are worthless.
[...]
Who is responsible for the human rights and international treaties? The atheists, the Christians, and the fornicators, with all due respect.
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Bulletin of the Oppression of Women
February 19, 2010 - March 7, 2010
February 19, 2010
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Cleric Muhammad Musa Al-Sharif defends the marrying off of under-age girls in Saudi Arabia.
February 21, 2010
Yemen
A 12-year-old is unable to divorce her husband of two years: "I'd rather die than go back to him".
February 22, 2010
Saudi Arabia
Prominent Saudi cleric 'Abd Al-Rahman Al-Barrak published an article denouncing as apostates those who regard the mingling of men and women to be permissible, saying that they should be killed.
Saudi Arabia
The Saudi Pedophile Chronicles.
Pakistan
New details are suggesting that a 12-year-old Pakistani Christian who was raped, tortured and killed is one of many victims of child trafficking in that country.
USA
Women who protested at the Islamic Center of Washington, wanting to be able to worship in the main prayer hall with their male counterparts, were asked to leave by the police.
Jordan
A Jordanian on death row for the murder of his married sister who used her mobile too often in an apparent 'honour killing' has had his term commuted to 10 years.
Malaysia
Selangor mufti Mohd Tamyes Abdul Wahid has asked Muslims to respect the decision by the Shariah court which meted out caning sentences to three Muslim women recently for having illicit sex. More HERE. And HERE.
Saudi Arabia
Catholic migrant in Saudi Arabia worked three years without a day of rest and attending mass.
Germany
A Turkish kebab vendor stabbed his teenaged daughter 68 times in their home, but he denied the attack was an honour killing.
February 25
UK
The fact a seven-year-old girl was starved to death over a period of weeks shocked not only the community at the heart of the police inquiry but people across the country.
February 28, 2010
Saudi Arabia
A hospital in Jeddah has rejected the request of Safa police to hand over an Indonesian maid, who has been receiving treatment at the hospital, to her sponsor.
March 2, 2010
India
Violent protests are being played out in the streets of Shimoga and Hassan in Karnataka after a local newspaper published an article of controversial Bangladeshi authour Taslima Nasreen.
Switzerland
The University of Italian Switzerland, located in Lugano, organized an international meeting on the dire situation of Muslim women.
Afghanistan
Runaway wives are sentenced to public flogging by a warlord.
Pakistan
A 34-year-old Christian woman was accused of blasphemy on March 1, 2010 when she refused to sell her cosmetics shop to aspiring Muslim shop owners.
March 3, 2010
Bangladesh
Women are detained for not wearing veil in Bangladesh.
Gaza (translated from Arabic by translating-jihad.blogspot.com)
Muslim women are chided for imitating Western women for desiring personal freedom.
Saudi Arabia
A Saudi woman who filed harassment claims in Saudi Arabia without being accompanied by a male relative has been sentenced to 300 lashes and 18 months in jail.
Indonesia
"Polygamy in Islam doesn't degrade women,"
March 7, 2010
UK
A secular Muslim woman councillor has been forced to dress more conservatively after receiving death threats and sexually harassing phone calls from members of her own community.
Produced by www.politicalislam.com/
Publisher: Bill Warner; Editor: Asma Marwan
