Bahraini Women's rights activist Ghada Jamshir attacks Islamic clerics for issuing fatwas authorizing Sexual Abuse of Infants

Yes, folks, you read the title of this post correctly; Islamic clerics are issuing fatwas authorizing sexual abuse of infants. The following are excerpts from an interview with Bahraini women's rights activist Ghada Jamshir, which aired on Al-Arabiya TV on December 21, 2005. By MEMRI. An excerpt:

Interviewer: "Some people say that Ghada Jamshir is a Sunni, and that this is why she is leading the battle against [mut'ah] marriages, which are authorized by religious law among the Shi'ites."

Ghada Jamshir: "Authorized by religious law?!"

Interviewer: "Among the Shiites, yes."

Ghada Jamshir: "Does the Islamic Shari'a authorize mut'ah marriages? Does the Islamic Shari'a authorize mut'ah according to the following classification: 'Pleasure from sexual contact with her thighs.' They have: 'Pleasure from sexual touching,' 'pleasure from sexual contact with her breasts.' 'Pleasure from a little girl.' Do you know what 'pleasure from a little girl' means? It means that they derive sexual pleasure from a girl aged two, three, or four."

Interviewer: "Let's not go into details..."

Ghada Jamshir: "Let me tell you what 'pleasure from sexual contact with her thighs' means..."

Interviewer: "Don't give me the details..."

Ghada Jamshir: "This is a violation of children's rights! This constitutes sexual assault of the girl. What does 'pleasure from sexual contact with her thighs' mean? It means deriving sexual pleasure from an infant. How old is an infant? One year, a year and a half, a few months?

"Is it conceivable for a grown man to have sex with an infant girl? And you people tell me that the Islamic Shari'a authorizes this? Forget about the mut'ah. Let's talk about misyar. What do misyar marriages mean? You said that I'm a Sunni and that's why I'm attacking the Shiites. No!"

Interviewer: "Some people claim that."

Ghada Jamshir: "No, no. What does the misyar marriage mean? A man marries a woman from another town, and goes to her once a month. He 'visits' her. He calls her his 'wife.'"

Interviewer: "Not necessarily once a month. He might go there every day."

Ghada Jamshir: "Brother Turki, this kind of marriage, this kind of behavior, diminishes the woman's honor as a human being."

To view this clip, visit: http://www.memritv.org/search.asp?ACT=S9&P1=978