Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Grade School Nuptials

One would think this story must be a hoax, but… maybe not.

The ANSAmed original looks like a machine translation, so I changed the wording slightly to make it read more like normal English:

Saudi Arabia: Fiancés, He Aged 11, She Aged 10

Their marriage will be soon, but they are only 11 years old (he) and 10 years old (she), two children originating from the Saudi region Hael, in the north of the country, will marry in the summer, local daily Al-Chams reports, after interviewing Muraizak Al-Rachidi, father of the future groom.

Al Rachidi, who will financially support the couple, has already started to give out the invitations for the wedding of his son Mohammad with his cousin who is one year younger and whose father promised to marry her since she was born.
- - - - - - - - -
“I am in my fourth year at school and I feel ready for this step, which will stimulate me to study better,” Mohammad stated, quoted by the daily, adding that he wants “to crown my love story with the marriage”.

But the young groom did not stop here and invited his classmates to make the same choice. All the peers and teachers have been invited to the wedding. Despite the fact that he has defined the union as “premature”, the school principal, Dahim Al-Jaber, wished his student a “happy married life”.

Marriages between preteens are rare in Saudi Arabia, an ultraconservative country in which the Wahhabi doctrine, a puritan Islamic current, is strictly applied. (ANSAmed).

“Marriages between preteens are rare in Saudi Arabia.”

Really? How rare is “rare”?

One every year? Twenty? Two hundred?

How rare are weddings between preteens in Europe or the USA?

Sheesh. At least Jerry Lee Lewis waited until his bride was thirteen.


Hat tip: insubria.

4 comments:

History Snark said...

Well sheesh! She's 10 years old. Gotta marry her off before she becomes an old maid.

Annoy Mouse said...

Funny thing that but western society doesn't think any body ought to have children until they are retired with property. Put a condom on it they say. Better yet, abstain. Your government hates you and wants to replace you with good third world people who we know will procreate.

ΛΕΟΝΙΔΑΣ said...

Procreation with close relatives is the reason that their transportation options would be restricted exclusively to camels and asses without "infidel" technology and huge petroleum reserves.

John Savage said...

I'm certainly not inclined to believe this story is a hoax -- Muslim men have been indulging their taste for little girls ever since Muhammad. (And for little boys, too.)

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