injustice

Riyadh – Saudi Arab

Abdul Aziz Aal Al-Sheikh, Grand Mufti of the Kingdom, said that girls as young as 10 years old can be married. In a speech, the Grand Mufti said Islamic Shariah law allows the practice of pre-teen girls getting married, and that critics of the practice were doing the girls an injustice, Al-Hayat Arabic newspaper said.

“We hear often in the media about the marriage of minors. We must know that Shariah law is not unjust for women,” Aal-Al-Sheikh was quoted as saying.

“If it is said that a woman below 15 cannot be married, that is wrong. If a girl exceeds 10 or 12 then she is eligible for marriage, and whoever thinks she is too young, then he or she is wrong and has done her an injustice.”

The Grand Mufti’s comment came in the wake of several well-publicized cases of young girls being married to men sometimes old enough to be their grandfathers.