Saudi Cleric Defends Marrying Under Age Girls: Human Rights are for Christians, etc.

[TechBoyJK]

February 19, 2010

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, 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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Funny how dudes like... NOT MY DAUGHTER, but its still ok.

 

[bobsmith1492]

I like his logic:

Western law states that marriage under 18 is illegal.
There is child prostitution in the West.
Therefore the under-18 law is wrong.

What's the problem? Oddly this is the same logic flow used by drug legalization proponents.

 

[Murloc]

14yo girls in western states are already bitches, it doesn't make much of a difference.

 

[RoloMather]

Lets impose more Western morals on the ME.

 

[Pocatello]

I like his logic:

Western law states that marriage under 18 is illegal.
There is child prostitution in the West.
Therefore the under-18 law is wrong.

What's the problem? Oddly this is the same logic flow used by drug legalization proponents.

Raping is illegal, there is raping in the West, therefore the law against raping is wrong. There are laws against robbing and killing, yet people still commit such acts.

 

[StageLeft]

I like his logic:

Western law states that marriage under 18 is illegal.
There is child prostitution in the West.
Therefore the under-18 law is wrong.

What's the problem? Oddly this is the same logic flow used by drug legalization proponents.

In typical form his instinctive response was to attack the West, completely getting off topic immediately.

Only a sick fvck marries of a 10 year old.

 

[Hacp]

You know this is what they did in the old days. People used to marry off their daughters. Obviously, in our culture, it is wrong but other cultures still do this. Why should we tell other people from foreign countries what to do with their lives? Just leave them alone and maybe they won't bomb our buildings anymore.

 

[Noobtastic]

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.

LOL! He just goes off on tangents and can't face up to the fact that infants are being married off to senior citizens and this is mandated by a book written 1400 years ago.

prostitution in the US, children blowing themselves up in "palestine" and the thousands of children killed by muslim suicide bombers has NOTHING to do with the fact that rape is legal in marriage in saudi arabia.

And guess what anandtech?

Saudi Arabia is a leading member of the United Nations Human Rights Council.

Our tax dollars at work...

 

[gingermeggs]

I like his logic:

Western law states that marriage under 18 is illegal.
There is child prostitution in the West.
Therefore the under-18 law is wrong.

What's the problem? Oddly this is the same logic flow used by drug legalization proponents.

So Bob do you drink or smoke tobacco?

 

[gingermeggs]

LOL! He just goes off on tangents and can't face up to the fact that infants are being married off to senior citizens and this is mandated by a book written 1400 years ago.

prostitution in the US, children blowing themselves up in "palestine" and the thousands of children killed by muslim suicide bombers has NOTHING to do with the fact that rape is legal in marriage in saudi arabia.

And guess what anandtech?

Saudi Arabia is a leading member of the United Nations Human Rights Council.

Our tax dollars at work...

Still it doesn't justify the iraq invasion or afganistan- 2 wrongs don't make a right!

 

[Noobtastic]

Still it doesn't justify the iraq invasion or afganistan- 2 wrongs don't make a right!

war in iraq and afghanistan are irrelevant.

saudi arabia is trying to justify its infant-raping by saying the USA "kills" children in foreign muslim countries.

it's like you raping someone, and then telling the judge other people rape each other too...as if it makes it okay.

 

[OBLAMA2009]

the us has millions of ten year old girls that live in poverty, have no parents, have no homes, live in dangerous neighborhoods, have no education etc... maybe americans should just shut the heck up and stop worrying about what is going on in other countries until we have our own act together, which will be never.

 

[jackschmittusa]

Yes, the U.S., from its post on the moral high ground (we only torture when it's important), should dictate moral purity (we only indefinitely detain without charges those we guess are bad guys) to those less civilized countries (as we secretly spy on our own citizens).

Our actions invite the criticism of others on whom we would impose our moral values.

As to the core topic, yes, 10 is too young (the onset of puberty is not a good indicator for childbearing, which most I think associate as a normal component of marriage) , but 18 is completely arbitrary. There are many states in the U.S. where you can marry far sooner than that.

 

[StageLeft]

You know this is what they did in the old days. People used to marry off their daughters. Obviously, in our culture, it is wrong but other cultures still do this. Why should we tell other people from foreign countries what to do with their lives? Just leave them alone and maybe they won't bomb our buildings anymore.

How can you have so little respect for your own culture and customs that you say such a thing?

 

[Robor]

Third, when Islamic law refers to a certain issue – we don't need human rights.

Wow. Thank the FSM I didn't grow up in a fucking shithole under islamic law.

 

[WelshBloke]

Um, It's 16 in lots of the USA and 13 in one state.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marriageable_age

 

[SandEagle]

how is this news any different from the other religions that practiced these sorts of things back then? i bet there are very few people today that go by these 'laws' today.

"The minimum age for marriage under Jewish law is 13 for boys, 12 for girls; however, the kiddushin can take place before that, and often did in medieval times."

http://www.jewfaq.org/marriage.htm



by the way, given the OP way of posting, it was not pure of heart.

 

[Atheus]

You know this is what they did in the old days. People used to marry off their daughters. Obviously, in our culture, it is wrong but other cultures still do this. Why should we tell other people from foreign countries what to do with their lives? Just leave them alone and maybe they won't bomb our buildings anymore.

How can you have so little respect for your own culture and customs that you say such a thing?

Here it is assumed by the poster that _respect_ for one's own culture is actually _equivalent_ to imposing it on others by force. It's an extremely arrogant point of view and says a lot about America these days. It's also ironic, as American nationalists would claim that this sort of imperialism is exactly what the country was created to avoid - i mean what was the point of the War of Independence if you wanted western culture forcibly spread throughout the world? Could have just let the British Empire get on with it...

 

[StageLeft]

Here it is assumed by the poster that _respect_ for one's own culture is actually _equivalent_ to imposing it on others by force. It's an extremely arrogant point of view and says a lot about America these days. It's also ironic, as American nationalists would claim that this sort of imperialism is exactly what the country was created to avoid - i mean what was the point of the War of Independence if you wanted western culture forcibly spread throughout the world? Could have just let the British Empire get on with it...

Irony...looking...looking...found!

Here it is assumed by the poster that _deriding_ another culture is actually _equivalent_ to feeling it should be abolished by force.

 

[Atheus]

Irony...looking...looking...found!

Here it is assumed by the poster that _deriding_ another culture is actually _equivalent_ to feeling it should be abolished by force.

Eh? I didn't say America should be abolished by force... we should leave eachother well alone IMO...

 

[Jaskalas]

Here it is assumed by the poster that _respect_ for one's own culture is actually _equivalent_ to imposing it on others by force.

Here it is assumed by the poster that _deriding_ another culture is actually _equivalent_ to feeling it should be abolished by force.

That happens a lot around here. To speak down on something is imperialism!

Actually, in Europe the OP would be a hate crime for inciting violence.

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

Saudi Arabia has the right to practice whatever barbaric cultural traditions they desire.

We have a right to deride those same traditions as archaic and medieval.

 

[brownzilla786]

prostitution in the US, children blowing themselves up in "palestine" and the thousands of children killed by muslim suicide bombers has NOTHING to do with the fact that rape is legal in marriage in saudi arabia.

You don't get the point he was trying to make. He was not "trying to justify its infant-raping by saying the USA "kills" children in foreign muslim countries."He is basically saying America is the last country that should be worrying about Saudi Arabia because he says they kill thousands of children in their wars. Hence, why he found it "distorted logic".

 

[bobsmith1492]

So Bob do you drink or smoke tobacco?

No, why?

 

[Noobtastic]

You don't get the point he was trying to make. He was not "trying to justify its infant-raping by saying the USA "kills" children in foreign muslim countries."He is basically saying America is the last country that should be worrying about Saudi Arabia because he says they kill thousands of children in their wars. Hence, why he found it "distorted logic".

Actually, America has every right to be worried about Saudi Arabia since 45% of all foreign fighters killing American soldiers and civilians in Iraq....are SAUDI!

So while thousands of US soldiers are stationed in SA to protect the royals and oil, that same country is paying for the deaths of who knows how many thousands of Iraqi civilians and hundreds of American soldiers.

And 1 month ago US airforce launched raids - on behalf of Saudi Arabia - against Yemen militants and killed ~150 people.

So yeah, Saudi Arabia spending US petrodollars to kill Americans is very very worrying.