Islamic Sharia's Insructions on Child and Forced Marriage
"Chad, which is in the middle of the Sahara Desert, has the highest rate of child marriage in the world
– 70 per cent of girls are married before they are 18, according to
Unicef."
"Around 30 per cent of girls are married before they turn 15."
"The Higher Islamic Council in the eastern town of Mangalmé has decreed
that men must pay £12 and women up to £30 for refusing to marry. Local
authorities said the fine, known as “amchilini”, is based on the Quran
and follows Sharia law."
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| Women who refuse marriage proposals in northern Chad will have to pay a fine of up to £30 - Marco Di Lauro /Getty Images |
Labels: Central Africa Chad, Child Marriage, Penalties for Refusing Marriage, Ruling on Marriage Eligibility
Closing an Atrocious Child-Marriage Loophole
"USCIS [U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services] is taking action to the maximum extent permitted under current immigration law to highlight special considerations in the adjudication of marriage-based immigrant petitions involving a minor."
"While these are steps in the right direction, ultimately it is up to Congress to bring more certainty and legal clarity to this process for both petitioners and USCIS officers."
USCIS Director L.Francis Cissna
"Everywhere we go, legislators, staffers, domestic violence
professionals are surprised we allow child marriages in almost every
U.S. state."
"We think of
this as a problem that happens somewhere else, and I think that’s where
we get the disconnect."
"The bigger question is: Why is
this happening for something that seems like such a simple fix?" "How is it that our United States government is essentially
facilitating child marriages?"
Amanda Parker, senior director, AHA Foundation
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| The Homeland Security
Department headquarters in northwest Washington is seen June 5, 2015.
The Trump administration has announced new rules for scrutinizing
petitions to bring in minor spouses to the United States. |
"What we need is strong legislation that closes the dangerous
immigration loophole that currently allows children of any age to
petition for a foreign spouse or fiance(e) or to be the beneficiary of a
spousal or fiance(e) visa."
"We need to stop incentivizing
child marriage.
“I’m going to continue pushing and insisting that every
state do what New Jersey and Delaware did, and that the federal
government take basic steps to address the problem and to stop being
complicit and actually encouraging child marriage."
“I’m
going to keep screaming until the federal government is not complicit
in child marriages anymore. It’s 2019 for crying out
loud. Child marriage is an ancient relic from our sexist past, and it
doesn't have any place in our society."Fraidy Reiss, campaigner, head, Unchained at Last
Data indicating over 5,000 instances of adults petitioning the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services on behalf of minors, along with close to 3,000 instances of minors seeking to bring in older spouses or fiancees, in a move that is at the present time completely legal, enabling child marriages revealed by the
Associated Press, has spurred the Immigration Services to clarify the situation by issuing guidance to adjudicators stressing marriages that involve minors must be given special alert attention.
At the present time men requesting authority to bring in children and adolescents as brides are being approved in a country which is attempting to stem the culturally-approved custom from abroad. The two-step visa process whereby visas are considered then granted by USCIS, and approved by the State Department has enabled mature men to take child brides into the country. In other situations, parental-guided minor marriages through coercion see the child brides sponsoring their adult 'husbands' or 'fiances' into the country.
The attention to the situation that the reportage highlighted has spurred USCIS to take action to flag and vet these petitions -- though by law no set minimum age requirements exist for the person making the request or for the person's spouse or fiance under the Immigration and Nationality Act. Contrarily, a petitioner must be at least 21 years of age to be able to bring a parent into the United States from overseas.
Officials hope that the changes instituted by USCIS, modest enough as they are will help to stem the child marriages entering the U.S, while knowing it will do nothing to stop them since age limits must be set by Congress as well as by individual states. Paying greater attention to these petitions, however, may result in the detection of instances where a child is being forced against her will to take part in such a marriage.
The situation is not one that advocacy groups laud, urging stronger measures be taken to protect children. Trust in the guidance of parental consent, used as evidence that an under-aged child consented to a marriage sidesteps the reality that many parents because of cultural, religious or heritage influences coerce their children into such troubling relationships and this is the issue that urgently requires addressing.
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| In this Feb. 2, 2016 photo, Naila Amin, 26, looks out from a classroom
window at Nassau Community College where she is a student in Garden
City, N.Y. Amin, who was forced into marriage at the age of 15 to a
28-year-old cousin in Pakistan who beat and mistreated her, aspires to
become a social worker and open a group home for girls trying to avoid
or recover from forced marriages. (AP Photo/Kathy Kmonicek) |
Labels: Child Marriage, Immigration, United States, Visas
The Ecstatic Bride
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| Ayu, 11, kisses the hand of her new husband Che Abdul Karim, 41 as her mother looks on. Picture: TwitterSource:Supplied |
"In Islamic procedure, as long as a bride agrees, her parents agree and the girl has had her menstrual period, then a marriage is O.K."
"Che Karim is a good Muslim, he always comes for prayer, and he is a responsible man."
Sayed Noordin imam, Kuala Betis mosque, Malaysia
"It would be unjust to lynch someone on social media because of how we feel about the issue [of child 'brides' in marriage to Muslim men]."
Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, Malaysian deputy prime minister
"This is a practice from many centuries ago and at this stage in Malaysia's growth and development, child marriage is not acceptable."
Charles Santiago, lawmaker, governing coalition
"The girl is a victim, no doubt about it."
"Why are we dillydallying in protecting a child? The lack of serious urgency about this case is disturbing."
Latheefa Koya, Muslim human rights lawyer
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| Malaysian national Che Abdul Karim, 41, poses with his latest wife Ayu,
11, (centre) and her mother (left) at a home in the Thai border village
of Sugai Golok. Picture: TwitterSource:Supplied |
Norazila, 14, and Ayu, 11 were neighbours in Gua Musang, Malaysia. They were also inseparable, two little girls who regarded one another as their best friends. They did everything together, shared each other's secrets, enjoyed sleepovers, exchanged selfies, talked about boys, just the normal things that young girls do, delighting in the companionship of an intimate who thought as they did, took pleasure in what they did, valued their company, and provided comfort and friendship that could always be relied upon.
And then things changed. For both girls their world turned upside down and inside out, and they are no longer best friends. Little Ayu, 11 is now in fact, 14-year-old Norazila's step-mother. Step-mother number three, to be exact. Norazila's father, Che Abdul Karim Che Abdul Hamid, 41, a rubber trader decided he must have Ayu as his third wife.
"My best friend is my stepmother now. It doesn't make any sense", Norazila mused unhappily.
Now the marriage of the 41-year-old to the 11-year-old child has consumed public interest and outrage in Malaysia, a Muslim majority country where it is permissible under Sharia law, for a Muslim man to enjoy multiple wives. Wife number two is anything but delighted; she posted photographs on Facebook of the marriage ceremony, with her notation
"Happy Wedding" to register her disgust.
Malaysian society isn't quite certain how it would like to react, and how its society should be viewing this age-old custom that the Prophet Mohammad himself, after all, was a proponent of, having himself 'married' a child, Aisha, all of six years old, but considerately waited until she was nine to 'consummate' the marriage. In July Ayu was taken to hospital for a virginity test, then reunited with her husband.
Although her husband claims
"I love her", he has promised not to
"touch" her until she reaches 16 years of age. Evidently he couldn't just wait for her to attain that age before broaching marriage with her parents, poor Thai immigrants, anxious to place their child in a prosperous situation for her future. Mr. Che Abdul Karim has six children with his two other wives.
Non-Muslim Malaysians under civil law may not marry until a girl is 18 years of age. The ethnic Malay majority Muslims, however, live under Islamic law where a Sharia court grants permission for minors under age 16 to marry. With approval from Sharia authorities no minimum age for marriage even exists. And according to Malaysian activists, about 15,000 girls under age 15 are in child marriages.
UNICEF estimates 650 million girls worldwide were wed prior to turning 18. On occasion, Malaysian girls who have been raped end up married to their rapists. Charged with the statutory rape of a 14-year-old girl, the charge was dropped once a man married the girl he raped. In response to their husband's lust for an 11-year-old child, the older two wives of Mr. Che Abdul Karim have offered him an ultimatum.
"We have said to him, it is us or that girl. We said, you choose. You cannot have all three of us", said Ms. Siti Noor.
"Their father never takes care of them", she said of her two toddlers.
"He doesn't even like children. Except one. That Ayu. He is so stingy with us, but he has enough money to get married to Ayu and take her on holiday."
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Image via Lauren DeCicca/The New York Times
Che Abdul Karim's second wife, Siti Noor Azilah with two of their four children |
Labels: Child Marriage, Islam, Malaysia
