The Child-Bride Problem In Iran- Over 716 Girls Under the Age of 10 Married Off In 2011

Mohammed's child bride Aisha (bint Abu Bakr) was only 6 years old when she was betrothed to the Prophet by her father.  She was still playing with dolls when they finally consummated the marriage when Aisha was only 9 and Mohammed was 52, and old enough to be her grandfather. Apparently, she was his favorite wife, that's probably because as young as she was she was malleable and controllable.

You'd think that with the progress of civilization, and the fact that we now consider sex with underage children 'pedophilia', the practice would have ceased.  But it's still thriving in many regions of the world, including Iran, because many believe that if it was good enough for their Prophet, it's good enough for them.

In fact, according to activist Farshid Yazdani (of Association for the Defense of Children's Rights) the number of child brides in Iran under the age of 10 has been increasing at an alarming rate.  They jumped from 449 in 2009 to 716 in 2011. But that's not all:

Yazdani added that the number of marriages for girls under 15 years of age has increased from 33,383 in 2006 to 35,931 in 2007, 37,996 in 2008, and 43,459 last year (please note that the dates are approximate as the statistics were given according to the Iranian calendar, which begins at the start of the Persian New Year).

According to Yazdani, the rate of marriages of girls under the age of 15 has had a 45% increase compared to marriages in other age brackets. He added that these figures are based on the statistics released by Iran’s Civil Registrations Office, and they should set off alarms for social activists and policy makers.

We can thank Sharia Law for the legalization of the practice in many Muslim countries.