Girls ready for marital duties at 10: Grand Mufti source:
Following discussions by the Justice Ministry in Saudi Arabia to set a minimum age for marriage, the Grand Mufti released a statement saying that girls as young as 10 years old would be ready for marital duties if raised properly.
The Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia Sheikh Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah, or on formal occasions, Abd al-‘Aziz ibn ‘Abd Allah ibn Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Lateef Aal ash-Shaikh has given the official thumbs-up for young marriage.
Additionally, the Mufti has criticized those that wish to raise the minimum age of marriage to 25.
“Those who call for raising the age of marriage to 25 are absolutely mistaken. Our mothers and grandmothers got married when they were barely 12. Good upbringing makes a girl ready to perform all marital duties at that age.”
The conservative Kingdom is facing strong pressure to raise the minimum age for marriage, following international criticism of cases involving children forced into wedlock with older men. Two years ago the Saudi Human Rights Commission hired a lawyer to help a 12 year old girl divorce her 80 year old husband.
Last year a similar fatwa, or religious ruling, by Salafi preacher Sheikh Mohamed al-Maghrawi allowing girls as young as nine to marry was condemned by Morocco’s Supreme Scientific Council.