He described such practices as an indication of lack of conscience on the part of the parents. He also said such marriages will not protect the chastity of the girls and may drive them toward sinful acts. The mufti stressed that the young girl will be living in agony while her parents enjoy the comforts her dowry can buy them.

I cannot agree more with the mufti. He is right in his warning about the consequences of such marriages which may lead the young girls to adultery to satisfy their sexual urges which old men cannot satisfy. To escape marital violence or unhappiness and the coldness of their elderly husbands, the young wives may also resort to drugs.

The marriage of old men to young girls is not new to this country or the world. It has always been there. We watch on TV young Yemeni girls, not yet 10, being married to old men. The old husbands could not provide the girls companionship or satisfy them sexually, so they approach the police asking for divorce.

I believe that many men and women who look at girls as only bodies without souls created for men’s sexual satisfaction, even if this sex is horrible and terrifying to them because of their young age, will be crying when they see them return as divorcees or widows even though they may have not completed 10 years! What impressions will these girls carry about marriage that should be a relationship of love and harmony.

WE have heard about a father who married his 10-year-old girl to a man in his 70s for a dowry of SR150,000. The Human Rights Commission (HRC) intervened and delayed the marriage for five years. Just imagine the situation of a desperate child considered to be a married woman and the old man demanding his conjugal rights. This will definitely rob the girl of her innocence. When the consummation of marriage takes place five years later, she will be just 15 while her husband will be in his 80s! Fathers like these consider their daughters to be slaves selling them to the highest bidder. Or they compel them to marry their relatives or men from their tribe.

If the girl is lucky, she escapes a forced marriage, her salary going to her father every month if or when she is employed. The recipient of these monthly payments may be reluctant to marry her. Why should he lose a monthly income without doing any work?

Some newspapers and Internet sites recently published the story of a man in his 50s marrying a child of 8 by way of settling the debts of her father. The joke is that she is his third wife!

Some people justify marrying their young daughters by saying that Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) married Aisha when she was only nine years old. To these people we ask a simple question: Will the Prophet also be your role model in treating your wives with kindness, justice and love? Why cannot the Prophet also be your role model in marrying older women, divorcees and widows?

The latest in this farce or tragedy of marriage is what is known as “exchange marriage” in which you marry me your daughter and take mine! In my opinion, old men who want to marry girls the age of their granddaughters are mentally sick and need psychological treatment.

The grand mufti has clearly stated his position on these types of marriages. What remains now is the cooperation of all concerned agencies to put a halt to such abuses. As most of the cases take place in remote villages where there is poverty and illiteracy, we need to launch a campaign to make people aware of the social and moral implications of such marriages. The mother should not hesitate to inform the police if the father insists on marrying his child to an old man. The officials who write the marriage contracts should alert the HRC to such practices so that they step in to stop it in time. It will be good if we decide a certain age for marriage.

Marriage is a partnership that requires the consent of the two parties. It is based on love. The dowry is the right of the bride, not the parents. Women have bodies as well as souls.

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