JEDDAH: Underage marriages have suddenly come into focus with the Human Rights Commission (HRC) and some religious scholars coming out in the open to denounce the practice. But also in the spotlight are the middlemen who facilitate these marriages.
Many are of the view that marriage officials who certify such marriages should also be brought to book.
In a recent interview, HRC spokesman Zuhair Al-Harithy highlighted his organization’s efforts to engage all relevant government bodies in the campaign against underage marriage. He said the commission was lobbying to establish a marriage age limit.
People believe that if marriage officials do not certify such marriages then the practice would die down. But the men in the middle say it is not their job to ascertain the ages of people getting married as long as there is mutual consent. And apportioning blame for this practice on them is unjustified, they claim.
“Yes, it is a dilemma,” said Ahmed Al-Mobi, a marriage official in Jeddah.
But some of these marriages take place at the insistence of the male guardian, mainly the father. “The father is hell bent to marry off his daughter to an elderly man, and in this situation, there’s nothing we can do but just certify the union. Because it is legal,” Al-Mobi said.
“My job as a marriage official is limited to the certification of the marriage, nothing more. People say that it’s the marriage official who agreed to the union and his signature in the marriage contract proves it. But in fact it is the guardian’s approval that matters,” he added.
Al-Mobi told Arab News that marriage officials do not pursue marriage contracts unless they have made sure that the girls are adults (not by age but by her menstrual cycle) according to Justice Ministry regulations.
“In order for us to help in inhibiting this practice, regulations have to change,” Al-Mobi said.
“Under the current rules we are given a license only when we sign at the Ministry of Justice an undertaking that we will only certify marriages between adults and sane people. This is just like the pre-marital tests nowadays where the marriage contract cannot be completed without a test report,” said Al-Mobi.
“If a girl’s father (or guardian) tells a man that ‘I am marrying my daughter to you’ and the man verbally accepts the offer, the marriage is allowed and legal even before a marriage official certifies the contract,” he said.
“However, I believe it is an injustice when a nine- or a 10-year-old girl is married to a 50-year-old man. Fathers should be merciful to their daughters. They should also treat their daughters with compassion and not sell them as commodities,” Al-Mobi added.
He also said that it is the duty of fathers to make sure that their daughters are mature enough to get married as underage marriages are totally unacceptable.
Another marriage official, Fareed Al-Ajrafi, said that there are no regulations that prevent such marriages.
Al-Ajrafi is of the view that any marriage official should make a judgment call on whether ages of the bride and the groom are compatible before certifying the union.
“If a 60-year-old man wants to marry a 10-year-old child it would surprise me. However, there is neither a law against it nor is it forbidden in Shariah,” said Al-Ajrafi.
“However, maturity level of women varies; it differs from woman to woman and from one environment or region to another,” he added.
Citing a case, he said, “I once was asked to certify the marriage of a girl in the ninth grade and I thought she is too young to get married. I asked to meet her in person in order to ask her whether she is being forced into this marriage. When she walked into the room she was taller than her father and looked pretty mature and wanted to get married.”
Al-Ajrafi also cited examples of daughters from tribal families who are married off at 14 and 15 and still able to handle their married life easily.
“We don’t want to generalize the issue. We know that society is against it and we also know that a 12-year-old girl marrying a 60-year-old is a total mismatch,” he said, adding that a young girl can always appeal to a court if she is being forced to marry.
Lawyer Sultan Bin-Zahim too was critical of people for generalizing and exaggerating the issue. He criticized people for being ignorant in such cases and described society as “birds following one bird without knowing the destination.”
He related an example of an underage girl who was married by her father to an elderly man that led her mother to file a complaint in court asking for an annulment. The girl was summoned to court and the judge asked her whether she wanted to stay married to her elderly husband or not. To which the girl replied that she loves him and wants to live with him.
“If the husband is physically and financially able and the wife is happy then the union is legal even if the man is aged,” Bin-Zahim added.
He said that in cases of forced marriages the contract is dissolved. And if the father marries his minor daughter to someone she does not want, then a complaint should be filed in court. The court after a thorough investigation could end the marriage.
Following the high-profile coverage of such marriages in the media, the HRC has taken steps to end matrimony involving minors. According to the HRC, the Ministry of Justice has begun studying ways to set a minimum age for marriage. It is expected that the minimum age will be set at 16.
