From the House of Fawta فتاوى Factory !!!!!!
RIYADH, Saudi ArabiaA senior Saudi cleric issued a religious ruling to allow fathers to arrange marriages for their daughters "even if they are in the cradle," setting up a confrontation between government reformers and influential conservative clergy.
Sheik Saleh al-Fawzan, one of the country's most important clerics, issued the ruling after the Justice Ministry said this month it would act to regulate marriages between prepubescent girls and men in the Islamic kingdom.
"Those who are calling for a minimum age for marriage should fear God and not violate his laws or try to legislate things God did not permit" them to legislate, Sheik Fawzan wrote in a fatwa, or religious decree, which was published on his website.
It isn't clear what legal weight Sheik Fawzan's fatwa would have if the Saudi justice ministry proceeds with its plan to outlaw child marriages. Saudi Arabia's legal system isn't codified, but because it is based upon an interpretation of Sharia law, the rulings of senior clerics can be used by individual judges when deciding cases.
The fatwa marks the second time in a year that religious authorities have knocked back a government initiative to move forward on social issues involving women.
Last year, King Abdullah bin Abdelaziz al-Saud pushed for higher female employment, suggesting that women ought to be allowed to work as supermarket cashiers, only for the job to be ruled off-limits to the gender by the Grand Mufti, the country's highest religious leader.
In the conservative Islamic kingdom, women aren't allowed to drive and can't work, travel abroad or undergo surgery without the permission of a male relative.
YOu can read more ..... goto
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111903635604576472011907391364.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
RIYADH, Saudi ArabiaA senior Saudi cleric issued a religious ruling to allow fathers to arrange marriages for their daughters "even if they are in the cradle," setting up a confrontation between government reformers and influential conservative clergy.
Sheik Saleh al-Fawzan, one of the country's most important clerics, issued the ruling after the Justice Ministry said this month it would act to regulate marriages between prepubescent girls and men in the Islamic kingdom.
"Those who are calling for a minimum age for marriage should fear God and not violate his laws or try to legislate things God did not permit" them to legislate, Sheik Fawzan wrote in a fatwa, or religious decree, which was published on his website.
It isn't clear what legal weight Sheik Fawzan's fatwa would have if the Saudi justice ministry proceeds with its plan to outlaw child marriages. Saudi Arabia's legal system isn't codified, but because it is based upon an interpretation of Sharia law, the rulings of senior clerics can be used by individual judges when deciding cases.
The fatwa marks the second time in a year that religious authorities have knocked back a government initiative to move forward on social issues involving women.
Last year, King Abdullah bin Abdelaziz al-Saud pushed for higher female employment, suggesting that women ought to be allowed to work as supermarket cashiers, only for the job to be ruled off-limits to the gender by the Grand Mufti, the country's highest religious leader.
In the conservative Islamic kingdom, women aren't allowed to drive and can't work, travel abroad or undergo surgery without the permission of a male relative.
YOu can read more ..... goto
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111903635604576472011907391364.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
