Director of the Department of Marriage at the ministry Muhammad Al-Babtain said a decision on the issue would soon be announced following the agreement of departments in the ministry involved on deciding on an age of consent.
"The project was discussed by a number of government departments concerned. The ministry deemed it appropriate to decide a certain age for the marriage of the underage girls taking into account its social and psychological aspects," he said.
Al-Babtain declined to reveal the age of consent for marriage, but said the issue was still being discussed.
He said fixing an age for the marriage of young girls is commensurate with Shariah rules and the culture of the society. "Underage marriages are permissible under Islamic law," he explained.
Al-Babtain pointed out the ministry had prepared a Shariah-based study that confirmed that marrying young girls was not against Shariah rules.
He refuted allegations, however, that the ministry had abstained from fixing a definite age for the marriage of young girls and said the ministry had maintained a solid stand on the issue and would support any move aimed at organizing such marriages to ensure the safety and security of young girls.
Al-Babtain made it clear that it was not only the ministry which would take a decision on the issues but the matter was of concern to many other government departments.
Al-Madinah also quoted another official as saying the Ministry of Justice is planning to make it compulsory for all Saudi men and women intending to get married for the first time to go through rigorous training on married life.
The official said the ministry decided to take the step after noticing a remarkable rise in divorces among newly married couples. According to official statistics, about 66 percent of divorces in Saudi Arabia took place during the first year of marriage.
A complete medical checkup for hereditary diseases and HIV are a must for Saudis and foreigners in the Kingdom in order to have their marriages officially certified.
Before marriages are conducted, a certificate of training on the culture of married life and a medical certificate should now be presented by the two people intending to tie the knot.
The ministry has also established marriage reconciliation offices attached to courts to settle matrimonial differences before they reach the judges. "These offices have succeeded in settling about 80 percent of the cases," the official revealed.
There are about 37 marriage reconciliation offices attached to courts in various regions of the Kingdom. The offices consider marital differences with a view to settling them before the married couples stand before the judge.
He added that based on the success of the experiment, the ministry was making plans to shift these offices outside courts making them autonomous entities and equipping them with sufficient qualified staff.
According to the source, the marriage reconciliation office in Bisha has settled about 90.76 percent of marriage differences before they were presented to the judge. In Buraidah 79.1 percent and in Belqarin 83.33 percent were reconciled.
A conference on family problems recently organized by the ministry had discussed the issue of subjecting young couples intending to get married to training on conjugal life.
As a result of the recommendations of the conference, the ministry was planning to make enlightenment about married life a must before any marriage contract was signed.
