I was shocked when I read the headline to a story that was published in Al-Hayat newspaper recently. The headline read “90-year-old man marries girl; human rights body calls for rescuing her”. The story was about a 90-year-old man from Jazan marrying a 15-year-old girl. What does this 90-year-old man want from a child bride who is the same age as his granddaughters? How can he expect her to be a successful wife cooking, cleaning and raising children when she herself needs someone to raise her? How can he develop psychological, social and physical contacts with her? Will he play with her and buy her schoolbooks or ask her to stand in the kitchen to prepare food and do the laundry? Will he buy her colorful clothes, balloons and toys during Eid or ask her to prepare an Eid cake? I have so many unanswered questions but I feel pain for the numerous girls who are married to old men. Marriage is a noble human relationship based on the principle of mental, social, financial and age commensurability. Disparities do occur sometimes. A partner may be richer, more educated or from a better family and such marriages will often see turmoil but the huge difference in age between a man and wife is a problem with disastrous consequences. It is a catastrophe in the real sense of the word when the husband is 40 or even 60 years older than his wife. Sources close to the bride said she was terrified on her wedding night. They said she locked herself in her room for two days before returning to her family. The 90-year-old bridegroom claimed that his marriage was correct and that he had paid a dowry of SR65,000. He said he would go to court asking the family of the bride either to give him back his wife or reimburse his money.
