Marriage Contracts Amended

After so many years of people, especially people from the West, complaining of marriage of underage girls, it has finally come to the limelight in Saudi Arabia. The reason seems to be on par with other Arab and Muslim countries.

In Islam, the girl has to consent to the marriage in order to it be valid. So what happens now to all those marriages where the girls were just too small and the men were just too old? Was their marriages invalid? It is hard to judge.

According to recent report, the new marriage contract will prevent marriage of underage girls. Human Rights people are thrilled by this news, hailing it as a positive move. Recently, the case of a man in his late fifties married a girl of eight. A lot of public attention was focused on this case which may have pushed the authorities to make changes in the marriage contract.

The new contract has now been distributed to the marriage officials so it would take effect immediately. The amendment is only a section asking for the bride’s age. Previously this part was not there as it was assumed the girl to be above the minimum age of seventeen.

I can understand what make parents to sell off their daughters to older and wealthier men. It does not mean that parents want this to happen. Maybe they are in abject poverty and at the same time it must be killing them to hand over their daughter to an older man. All parents have dreams for their children and for that dream to come to this nightmare must be really hard on them. Now why can’t the groom wait and think for a moment. Is he doing justice? Is it fair for the girl and how can he even think that girl, who could be like his granddaughter, will be his partner. They are mentally not on the same level, their interests are as different as night and day. So what is left? Only the relationship? What does that say about the groom.

If the groom is really thinking about helping the poor parents, why not help financially, with him being rich and all. Why not donate money and get his share of rewards? If is looking after the future of the little girl, why not take care of her and her parents until she is old enough to get married and then marry her off to one of his grandsons?

The mind boggles!