Girls are ready to marry aged 10, says top Saudi cleric
According to the cleric, Sheikh Abdul-Aziz Al al-Sheikh, an ugly old man with bad teeth:
Our mothers and grandmothers got married when they were barely 12 ... Good upbringing makes a girl ready to perform all marital duties at that age...
I must disclose that I am highly partisan in this matter. I DO NOT like Saudi Arabia! I have been particularly biased against Saudi Arabia since the attack of September 11, 2001 by some 19 or so religiously deranged Saudi Arabians.
Before that, I found the way Saudi Arabia treats its women most displeasing. Since that time I have also become more and more aware and intolerant of how tolerant Saudi Arabia is of slavery.
The child slaves of Saudi Arabia
On the wealthy streets of Jeddah, in Saudi Arabia, thousands of young child-beggars, under the auspices of ruthless gangmasters, are simply trying to survive.
Many hail from countries like Yemen which, despite bordering one of the Middle East's richest states, is a world away in terms of economic prosperity.
These children are often sold by families who are either duped into believing their offspring will get a better life or sometimes simply threatened.
Given the stranglehold that extreme religion has in Saudi Arabia, I personally believe that there is very little chance of Saudi Arabia becoming part of the 21st century culturally, although the Christian Science Monitor is optimistic:
Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia is edging closer to setting a minimum age for marriage, a Justice Ministry official was quoted as saying on Wednesday, following international criticism of cases of child brides.
Unfortunately, it is noted in the same article that as recently as 2009 Saudi courts refused to nullify the marriage of an 8-year-old girl to a 58-year-old man.
It appears, moreover, that Saudi Arabia cannot even bring itself to specify an exact age for a girl to be marriageable.
And, in 2011, the Guardian asks Why is no one protecting Saudi Arabia's child brides?:
Atgaa, 10, and her sister Reemya, 8, are about to be married to men in their 60s. Atgaa will be her husband's fourth wife. Their wedding celebrations are scheduled for this week and will take place in the town of Fayaadah Abban in Qasim, Saudi Arabia.
The girls are getting married because their financially struggling father needs the money that their dowries will provide: young girls of this age can fetch as much as $40,000 each.
Many readers might be shocked at this news. How can it be legal? The answer is that Saudi Arabia has no minimum age for marriage, and it is perfectly legal to marry even an hour-old child.
Meanwhile, the CS Monitor goes bravely forward to discuss the
five most dangerous locales for women.
The five most dangerous locales according to TrustLaw, an organization that provides legal aid and information on women's rights:
Surprisingly, Somalia is fifth on the list, for the usual reasons: warfare, poverty, religion, contributing factors to high maternal mortality rates, a high prevalence of rape, female genital mutilation, and child marriage.
The surprising fourth nation, India: female feticide (selective abortion and infanticide), child marriage, women trafficking, and domestic servitude.
The third, Pakistan, because of deeply entrenched cultural, tribal, and religious norms which lay the required grounds for child marriage and forced marriage.
Ranking second is the Democratic Republic of the Congo because of its ferociously high rate of sexual violence, this nation is probably the rape capitol of the world.
Ranking first, Afghanistan: health risks, nonsexual violence, economic discrimination, ongoing warfare, NATO airstrikes, cultural practices
Poverty, War, Religion and Tribalism. The Unholy Four Horsemen of tyranny over women. Especially grossly patriarchal religion.
Come to think of it, the foul, unholy mouth of Rush Limbaugh could be added to the Four Horsemen to create the Most Unholy Pentagram of Evil Towards Women.