The Marriage of an 8 Year Old Child

These are only my personal opinions of this matter. You do not have to agree with me. There appeared in the news lately of a 58 year old man in Saudi Arabia who married a 8 year old girl. To me this is child molestation. Saudi Arabia has no age limit on marriages, so I guess if you had a 3 year old you could sell her to the highest bidder. What is this world coming to?

The girls father married her off for $13,000 so he could pay off his debts. She was not aware of this happening to her. Can you imagine what this poor little girl went through. She should have been playing with dolls and not having to think about being a housewife. At 8 years of age she is innocent and wouldn't know the first thing about anything, especially what was expected of her as a wife.

I am appalled that this child had to go through such an ordeal as this. The child's mother had divorced the father several years before and had been telling people what the father had planned to do but no one would listen to her. When it finally did happen she appealed to the court for a divorce for the little girl but the judge denied her not only once but twice. The judge was not thinking of the child's welfare. He shouldn't even be a judge to let this happen.

The money that was given as a dowry to the girl was spent by her father to pay his debts. This money was to be hers and hers alone. The father had no right to touch it.

A human rights activist has been stated as saying that the marriage contract was illegal because the girl didn't know anything about it and it happened with out her consent. The child rights advocates argued that the girls father did not have the girls best interests in mind.

It is not uncommon in Saudi Arabia for fathers to trade there daughters for money. These people are weak and often very far in debt and forget their roles as parents.

I hope Saudi Arabia will soon learn its mistake in letting this happen.