Saudi Arabia: Opposing Child Marriage

While the religious establishment still insists that there should be no lower age limit to child marriage in Saudi Arabia, opposition to child marriage is mounting from medical, human rights and even some religious quarters.

Of note:

A special report by the Saudi Health Ministry stated that child bride marriages were “one of the primary causes for the emergence of physical and psychological problems… [and for] the rising incidence of disease within the family and society, which are a burden on the health system.” Among the physical problems mentioned in the report were menstrual problems, infertility and vaginal tearing, as well as osteoporosis and frequent caesarian surgeries due to pregnancy and childbirth at a young age. As for psychological problems, the report stated that the early withdrawal of maternal love and the sudden termination of childhood caused anxiety and marital problems, among other difficulties.

Saudi Arabia’s Health Ministry admits what the Ulema will not.

Rising Criticism of Child Bride Marriages in Saudi Arabia

Y. Admon (New Age Islam)

The Saudi press has lately been discussing the custom of child bride marriage, especially cases of middle-aged or elderly men taking prepubescent girls for their wives. The religious justification for this custom, which has been prevalent in Saudi Arabia and in many Muslim societies since the early Islamic era, is that the Prophet Muhammad married his wife ‘Aisha when she was only six years old.

Recent press reports on child bride marriage in Saudi Arabia sparked a wave of criticism among columnists and social activists, who called for abolishing the custom and for setting a minimum age for marriage in Saudi law. In response, on November 24, 2008, the Saudi Shura Council passed a resolution setting the legal age of majority at 18. However, the council refrained from explicitly defining this as the minimum age for marriage, reflecting the difficulty it faces in confronting this well-entrenched practice….

USA: Hijabi Monologues Takes Wing

Muslim-style ‘Monologues’

Raja Abdulrahim (LA Times via Philadelphia Inquirer)

Los Angeles TimesThere is no central theme [to the Hijabi Monologues]; the play focuses on individual women and their stories. One monologue addresses the types of men who hit on hijabis, another tells the story of a mother who loses her son in a car accident. The one that draws the most reaction is about a teenager who gets pregnant – a taboo subject in Muslim communities.

“Hijab is not the centerpiece,” Alhassen said of the play, “it’s the background….”

Turkey: Science and Technology Magazine Editor Fired Over Darwin Article

Darwin article causes flap in Muslim Turkey

SUZAN FRASER (Associated Press)

Turkish university students and teachers on Wednesday protested the removal of an article about Charles Darwin from a state-run science magazine amid concerns that secular views are under threat in the Muslim country….

Saudi Arabia: 75 Year Old Woman to Be Lashed for Consorting with Men

I’m not sure what to say about this, other than hoping that the story is a hoax or the product a misunderstanding.

Saudi Woman, 75, Sentenced to 40 Lashings

(Associated Press)

Iraq: The Unhappy Fate of Women Whose Fathers and Husbands Have Died

Here are two depressing stories of the desperate situations that some Iraqi widows and their daughters must deal with to put food on the table.

The shame of Iraq’s pariah widows

Michael Sergeant (BBC News)

… Accurate figures are hard to obtain, but even before the invasion in 2003, there were hundreds of thousands of widows in Iraq.

Many lost husbands in the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s. At the height of the violence of recent years, up to 100 women a day were becoming widows.

Almost everywhere you go in Baghdad, you can see them begging at traffic lights and outside mosques – dressed from head to toe in black.

The women are supposed to be given just over $1 (£0.70) a day from the government.

But a survey by the charity Oxfam has discovered that less than a quarter actually get the money …

and also:

Iraq’s Unspeakable Crime: Mothers Pimping Daughters

Rania Abouzeid (Time Magazine)

… [The] underworld is a place where nefarious female pimps hold sway, where impoverished mothers sell their teenage daughters into a sex market that believes females who reach the age of 20 are too old to fetch a good price. The youngest victims, some just 11 and 12, are sold for as much as $30,000, others for as little as $2,000. “The buying and selling of girls in Iraq, it’s like the trade in cattle,” Hinda says. “I’ve seen mothers haggle with agents over the price of their daughters….”

Chechnya: President Defends Honor Killings

Ramzan Kadyrov, Chechnya’s president has defended the murders of 7 women he claims were prostitutes. He is apparently attempting to appease Islamists by stating that the murders were justifiable honor killings, but chooses to ignore 2 huge problems with his theory:

1. Honor killings are not defensible in Islam.
2. There is no evidence that the 7 women were murdered by relatives and, therefore, these killings would not qualify as honor killings anyway.

It is sickening for this man to try to profit politically from the murders of these women who were probably killed by his own supporters.

Chechen leader imposes strict brand of Islam

LYNN BERRY (Associated Press)

The bullnecked president of Chechnya emerged from afternoon prayers at the mosque and with chilling composure explained why seven young women who had been shot in the head deserved to die.

Ramzan Kadyrov said the women, whose bodies were found dumped by the roadside, had “loose morals” and were rightfully shot by male relatives in honor killings….

… Kadyrov’s version also has been contradicted by federal prosecutors in Moscow, who have concluded relatives were not involved. No arrests have been made and the investigation is continuing. Kadyrov’s office refused to comment on the investigators’ conclusion.

The Moscow newspaper Novaya Gazeta reported that some of the women worked in brothels frequented by Kadyrov’s men. Many Chechens say they suspect the women were killed in a police operation. The truth of the killings may never be known, given how much Kadyrov is feared….