Islamic Activists Decry Death of 8 Year Old Child Bride

Eight year old Rawan, was married and raped on her wedding night. According to Yemeni, Kuwaiti, progressive Islamic activists throughout the world like the Shaqaeq Arab Forum for Human Rights, abuse like this as well as that of 13 year old Ilham Mahdi al Assi (who died in Yemen’s Hajja province in 2010 from similar injuries), can no longer be swept under the rug.

The Kuwaiti daily newspaper Al Watan details that Rawan suffered tearing of her genitals and a uterine rupture. She eventually died in the tribal area of Hardh, near the border with Sa`udiyyah.

Rawan’s husband was 40 years old. But apart from this large age gap, the Yemen had recently passed a law in February 2009 which set the minimum age of marriage at 17 years old.

This law, however, was soon repealed by hardliners who said that it was “Un-Islamic”, in spite of the many Islamic sources that make it clear consummation before menstruation at the very least is forbidden, even if a marriage is contractually arranged earlier.

Furthermore, some Islamic progressives point to the chronological dates in “Hadith” literature, that indicate Muhammad’s supposed “child bride” Aisha was in her late teens when they married, based on the fact that she fought in key battles – along side men – while adolescents were sent home without being allowed to fight.

Activists throughout the Islamic world are calling for action, but anti-Islamic polemicists in the West are jumping on this as the latest fodder for Islam-hating polemic. Progressive Muslims cannot pretend things like this do not happen. We cannot hope that they simply go away or that those committing these abuses one day will stop on their own. It is not enough to oppose these acts in our hearts, nor even within the Muslim community, it must be openly confronted throughout the world and wherever we find anyone defending such abuses. A stand must be taken, so that the world knows Islamic voices for truth, justice and women’s rights, do not stand for this abuse in the name of Islam.

http://politicalblindspot.com/islamic-ac…ing-night/