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South Australia state government blocks bill to prevent forced child marriages

Dec 10, 2016 2:02 pm By Robert Spencer

Labor backbencher Nat Cook pointed out that “the Commonwealth criminal code already contains offences relating to forced marriage, both when they involve a child and when they involve a person over the age of 18.” Sanderson, however, “argued that strengthening the state law would have helped increase awareness of the problem and made it easier for authorities to take action quickly.”

However, that might have offended a certain easily-offended population. After all, few things are more abundantly attested in Islamic law than the permissibility of child marriage. Islamic tradition records that Muhammad’s favorite wife, Aisha, was six when Muhammad wedded her and nine when he consummated the marriage:

“The Prophet wrote the (marriage contract) with Aisha while she was six years old and consummated his marriage with her while she was nine years old and she remained with him for nine years (i.e. till his death)” (Bukhari 7.62.88).

Another tradition has Aisha herself recount the scene:

The Prophet engaged me when I was a girl of six (years). We went to Medina and stayed at the home of Bani-al-Harith bin Khazraj. Then I got ill and my hair fell down. Later on my hair grew (again) and my mother, Um Ruman, came to me while I was playing in a swing with some of my girl friends. She called me, and I went to her, not knowing what she wanted to do to me. She caught me by the hand and made me stand at the door of the house. I was breathless then, and when my breathing became all right, she took some water and rubbed my face and head with it. Then she took me into the house. There in the house I saw some Ansari women who said, “Best wishes and Allah’s Blessing and a good luck.” Then she entrusted me to them and they prepared me (for the marriage). Unexpectedly Allah’s Apostle came to me in the forenoon and my mother handed me over to him, and at that time I was a girl of nine years of age. (Bukhari 5.58.234).

Muhammad was at this time fifty-four years old.

Marrying young girls was not all that unusual for its time, but because in Islam Muhammad is the supreme example of conduct (cf. Qur’an 33:21), he is considered exemplary in this unto today. And so in April 2011, the Bangladesh Mufti Fazlul Haque Amini declared that those trying to pass a law banning child marriage in that country were putting Muhammad in a bad light: “Banning child marriage will cause challenging the marriage of the holy prophet of Islam, [putting] the moral character of the prophet into controversy and challenge.” He added a threat: “Islam permits child marriage and it will not be tolerated if any ruler will ever try to touch this issue in the name of giving more rights to women.” The Mufti said that 200,000 jihadists were ready to sacrifice their lives for any law restricting child marriage.

Likewise the influential website Islamonline.com in December 2010 justified child marriage by invoking not only Muhammad’s example, but the Qur’an as well:

The Noble Qur’an has also mentioned the waiting period [i.e. for a divorced wife to remarry] for the wife who has not yet menstruated, saying: “And those who no longer expect menstruation among your women, if you doubt, then their period is three months, and [also for] those who have not menstruated” [Qur’an 65:4]. Since this is not negated later, we can take from this verse that it is permissible to have sexual intercourse with a prepubescent girl. The Qur’an is not like the books of jurisprudence which mention what the implications of things are, even if they are prohibited. It is true that the prophet entered into a marriage contract with A’isha when she was six years old, however he did not have sex with her until she was nine years old, according to al-Bukhari.

Other countries make Muhammad’s example the basis of their laws regarding the legal marriageable age for girls. Article 1041 of the Civil Code of the Islamic Republic of Iran states that girls can be engaged before the age of nine, and married at nine: “Marriage before puberty (nine full lunar years for girls) is prohibited. Marriage contracted before reaching puberty with the permission of the guardian is valid provided that the interests of the ward are duly observed.”

According to Amir Taheri in The Spirit of Allah: Khomeini and the Islamic Revolution (pp. 90-91), Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini himself married a ten-year-old girl when he was twenty-eight. Khomeini called marriage to a prepubescent girl “a divine blessing,” and advised the faithful to give their own daughters away accordingly: “Do your best to ensure that your daughters do not see their first blood in your house.” When he took power in Iran, he lowered the legal marriageable age of girls to nine, in accord with Muhammad’s example.

“Government MPs reject Opposition child protection spokeswoman Rachel Sanderson’s Bill to prevent forced child marriages,” by Lauren Novak, Perth Now, November 30, 2016:

A BID to better protect South Australian children from being taken overseas for forced marriages has failed after the State Government blocked it.

Opposition child protection spokeswoman Rachel Sanderson had put proposed laws to Parliament to enforce a penalty of up to 19 years in jail for people who take a child overseas to be forced into marriage.

However, Government MPs voted against the Bill this morning and it was rejected 19 to 15.

Labor backbencher Nat Cook stressed that the Government was opposed to child marriage but argued that existing federal laws adequately covered the issue.

“Personally, it makes me feel sick to think about the pain and terror and sadness that victims (of child marriage) must go through,” she said.

“(But) the Commonwealth criminal code already contains offences relating to forced marriage, both when they involve a child and when they involve a person over the age of 18.

“Indeed, the Commonwealth provisions cover a broader range of conduct associated with forced marriage (than Ms Sanderson’s Bill).”

Ms Sanderson argued that strengthening the state law would have helped increase awareness of the problem and made it easier for authorities to take action quickly.

She was prompted to put forward the legislation after hearing of at least two cases of South Australian girls feared at risk of being taken out of the state to be married.

Her proposed changes would have enabled police or the head of the state’s child protection department to apply to a court to prevent a child from being taken out of the state, temporarily remove the child’s passport or interview the child if it was suspected they were at risk of forced marriage.

Those who took a child out of the state to be married, or attempted to, would face up to 15 years in jail.

Where a child was aged 12 years or younger, the penalty would be up to 19 years in jail.

Similar changes have been made to state law to protect children at risk of genital mutilation….

The Australian Federal Police investigated 20 matters of suspected forced marriage in Australia in the first nine months of last year….

Eleven of the investigations involved persons under the age of 18 years.

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Filed Under: Australia, child marriage Tagged With: Nat Cook, Rachel Sanderson


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Comments

  1. mortimer says

    Dec 10, 2016 at 2:26 pm

    Feminists may finally be waking up. Islam severely limits the human rights of women. Based on SYSTEMIC gender discrimination (against women), Islam proposes: FGM, child marriage, forced marriage, unequal divorce laws, unequal inheritance laws, unequal rules of testimony in court, unequal employment restrictions, unequal dress restrictions, restrictions on travel, restrictions on freedom of expression.

    Feminists need to wake up completely and stop Sharia law implementation for the sake of defending women’s rights. Islam is one the most severe violators of women’s rights.

    • Denise says

      Dec 12, 2016 at 7:20 am

      Well said, I agree. This is Australia not some Islamic state.

  2. Angemon says

    Dec 10, 2016 at 2:39 pm

    Labor backbencher Nat Cook stressed that the Government was opposed to child marriage but argued that existing federal laws adequately covered the issue.

    (…)

    Ms Sanderson argued that strengthening the state law would have helped increase awareness of the problem and made it easier for authorities to take action quickly.

    While I agree that pushing for a law that already exists is a waste of time and resources, is there a way to achieve the benefits Ms Sanderson stated without passing an a law that would overlap with the already existing laws?

    • Alarmed Pig Farmer says

      Dec 10, 2016 at 3:13 pm

      Yeah, enforce them. Like with our immigration law here. That’s the only “reform” needed.

  3. utis says

    Dec 10, 2016 at 2:56 pm

    How come the Faithful don’t imitate Muhammad’s virtual childlessness? I know perfectly well why, but they certainly aren’t imitating Mr. Perfect there.

  4. Tommy says

    Dec 10, 2016 at 3:04 pm

    Most hard-core feminist are pedophyles them selves.

    In America if a woman is raped and the rapists goes free, or a small sentence…international outrage. However if the same thing happens to a child, feminist keep their mouths shut!

    • A Harris USA says

      Dec 11, 2016 at 12:55 pm

      Tommy, you got the right picture.. These self hating women have no regard for children, or other women.. I have know over the years many of these self hating bitches, and they could not care less about other women. Young or old… Australia is doomed, and sinking fast!!! Since they have lifted their immigration restrictions years ago, the quality of life, and the low crime rate there is in the toilet!!! Now with the Muslim hordes, they are about to commit the ultimate crime, self destruction…. Sad, to bad the Crocodille Dundees of that land do not rise up, and remove the filth from their once great land.. God, for your kids!!!

  5. Joshua MacLean says

    Dec 10, 2016 at 3:34 pm

    If they want to marry children let them live with the Aborigines, the ones who still practice cannibalism, if they don’t want to be civilized.

    • Damocles Junior says

      Dec 10, 2016 at 9:22 pm

      Before a young Aboriginal male could have a bride he had to be circumcised, a very painful procedure performed by the tribal elders using sharp rocks.

      To get a bride he had to take part in a raid where he would get a bride from another tribe. Important both to stop in-breeding and to prove he was a man. The bride had to have developed breasts to show that she had reached puberty. She would then be expected to breed, prepare food and look after her children and basically survive in the world’s harshest environment. This in my opinion was all quite sophisticated compared with what goes on in today’s Islamic world.

      • dumbledoresarmy says

        Dec 11, 2016 at 5:24 am

        And in traditional aboriginal society (and still today) inbreeding such as Muslims constantly and almost obsessively indulge in (i.e. marrying your first cousins, generation after generation) was strictly forbidden.

        Even second-cousins were often deemed too close for safety.

        *Outbreeding* was the iron law of all aboriginal Aussie pre-colonial societies. Indeed, when traditional aboriginal people discovered that whitefellas occasionally married first cousins (a practice definitely not *encouraged* but also not completely *discouraged/ forbidden) they were utterly shocked, because in their eyes, the marriage of first cousins was tantamount to brother-sister incest.

  6. JIMJFOX says

    Dec 10, 2016 at 3:48 pm

    Don’t see the point. Clickbait headline is misleading, disregards existing law and quotes not a single case of underage marriage being allowed. Please don’t, get desperate to fill space with bogus reports!

    This is the premier anti-jihad/Islam site on the web, so don’t discredit it.

    • Damocles Junior says

      Dec 10, 2016 at 4:06 pm

      I can only view this “clickbait” in the context that South Australia tends to be a rather strange place (and a bit of a backwater) compared with the rest of Australia, it is known for it’s progressive social policies especially pioneering the homosexual and feminist agenda. At a more serious level SA was in big trouble recently due to it’s insane dependence on “alternative energy’, the whole system collapsed as a result of a series of storms.

      But this story is a non-even outside South Australia. Here in Sydney Muslim child marriages, often as young as 9, often to a cousin back in Lebanon is all common knowledge. Sometimes the Federal authorities intervene or even make an arrest but it is still a very widespread practice. A cleric was recently jailed for solemnising these marriages here in Sydney, claimed he had the right to do so under his Islamic law, but he was I am pleased to say prosecuted under Australian law.

  7. Dan says

    Dec 10, 2016 at 5:03 pm

    When the British ruled India, there was a law that, when the husband died, the widow was burned to death on his funeral pyre.

    The British wanted this stopped, but Indians said, “That is our custom. You can’t interfere with our customs.”

    So the British said,”Well it’s our custom to hang people who burn widows alive so, you follow your custom all you want, and we’ll follow ours.”

    Do that with the Muslims. “If you’re marrying a child bride, fine. But our custom is to lock child molesters up, put them on a sexual predator list for life, and place the child in Social Services custody.”

    • Damocles Junior says

      Dec 10, 2016 at 6:15 pm

      Well said Dan.

    • marie says

      Dec 11, 2016 at 4:08 am

      Dan Any chance of you getting interested in Australian politics…we sure do need people of your calibre.
      This Muslim privileged mob are out of control in Australia and need someone who
      will actually say NO to them!

  8. Kimberley Low says

    Dec 10, 2016 at 8:05 pm

    Why double up on a law? Something is already illegal, enforce the existing law. We are over governed in Australia as it is. What a waste of time and money.

    • A Harris USA says

      Dec 11, 2016 at 12:59 pm

      Kimberly, you better get some grits and get some laws that protect you, and if you have kids, and start realizing that your nation is heading into Muslim land… Go visit one of these sand pit nations, and see if you want to be a women there… LOL,, no you won’t I promise you..

  9. Irish says

    Dec 11, 2016 at 9:35 am

    The law that is in place at the moment is weak as piss!
    Children are being taken overseas on the pretence going for a holiday yet they never return!

    The federal government doesn’t want to upset the minority hence why they get away with a fine and a slap on tbe wrist.

  10. Carolyne says

    Dec 11, 2016 at 11:15 am

    Reading the law as presented above, it seems to me that it only prevents “forced” marriage of women at any age. It does not address child marriage specifically, only if the female is forced. Many of these little girls, I should think, do not object to being married at nine because they do not understand that they can object, it is just part of their lives. Prepubescent marriage should be outlawed whatever the circumstances.

  11. Garrick Carpenter says

    Dec 11, 2016 at 7:45 pm

    The sooner we get rid of our leftard Prime Minister then the better for all Australians.

  12. David, Thailand says

    Dec 11, 2016 at 9:27 pm

    “…the prophet entered into a marriage contract with A’isha when she was six years old, however he did not have sex with her until she was nine years old, according to al-Bukhari.”

    Of course Mohamed had sex with Aisha from the time he married her at age six, just not vaginal intercourse till she was nine.

  13. Hector Archytas says

    Dec 12, 2016 at 8:35 am

    The whole issue of immigrating to a country but looking for a spouse in your mother land is very strange. You can’t belong to 2 nations of opposing culture in a cultural clash. This is war. One have to choose.
    This fact should end up by revoking the Australian nationality instead of acceptiong the spouse.

  14. Hector Archytas says

    Dec 12, 2016 at 8:42 am

    The whole issue of immigrating to a country but looking for a spouse in your mother land is very strange. You can’t belong to 2 nations of opposing culture in a cultural clash. One have to choose. If you are an immigrant, you get a spouse in your new country !!! It is a basic common sense otherwise you are still full heart with the mother land.
    This fact should end up by revoking the Australian nationality instead of accepting the spouse.
    There is something fundamentally wrong with the concept which is the source of the breeding jihad.

  15. Joe Obmud says

    Feb 19, 2017 at 7:21 am

    To be fair on the South Australian Government. Marriage and its rules should be legislation by the federal government. They have the responsibility to enact laws pertaining to marriage and divorce in Australia.

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