80 years old Arabian man, married adolescent girls aged 12 years

A Saudi Arabian man who had entered old fart category, 80 years old, married adolescent girls aged 12 years. Country’s legal system was again criticized. Wedding took place in the city of Buraidah in Al-Qasim Province. Based on reports of Al-Riyadh daily, last week, the poor girl forced into marriage by her father against her wishes and her mother. The newspaper reported, was done for the wedding dowry.

The girl’s mother has requested assistance Rights Commission of Saudi Arabia. However, these institutions can not do something because it is still waiting for the ongoing process in the local courts. “The mother of the girl in Buraidah us that asking for help, asking us involved in helping her daughter get a divorce,” said the commission’s chairman, Bandar al-Aiban, told AFP Thursday. “This case is now in the hands of law enforcement, and I do not want to say anything before they make a decision. However, I hope that they get a decision as soon as possible.” he said. Sheikh Abdullah al-Manie, a senior cleric of Saudi Arabia, said that marriage with young children can not be justified by reference to the Prophet Muhammad’s marriage with Aisha, a young girl, in the 14th century. The case of Aisha, who is known among Muslims as the “Mother of the Faithful People,” is often used by Saudi judges and the clergy to justify early marriage.

However, Manie, a member of the Senior Ulema Board, as Okaz daily reported on Thursday, saying that the case of the Prophet Muhammad can not be used to justify the early age of marriage. “Marriage can not be equated Aisha with early marriage of children today because the conditions and the situation is not the same,” said Manie. Saudi Arabia’s legal system based on sharia law. All judges are clerics. The judges are not following the development of modern law, but rather basing his decision on his own interpretation of Islamic texts available.(AFP)