Saudi Cleric Encourages Syrian Rebels to Engage in 'Temporary Marriages' With Girls as Young as 14

A hardline Wahhabi cleric from Saudi Arabia is encouraging rebel fighters in Syria to engage in "temporary marriages" with Syrian females as young as the age of 14, multiple international news outlets have reported.

Iran's PressTV has more on what they describe as a "special religious decree":

Sheikh Mohammed al-Arifi said that the marriages between the foreign-backed militants and Syrian women will satisfy the militants’ sexual desires and boost their determination in killing Syrians.

He added that the marriages, dubbed by him as “intercourse marriages,” can be with Syrian females as young as 14 years old.

He also promised “paradise” for those who marry the militants.

Arifi has issued similar decrees in the past in support of the violence in Syria.

He has also been organizing a fundraiser for the militant groups fighting Syrian government forces.

Eretz Zen, a YouTube channel by a "secular Syrian opposed to having [his] country turned into a Taliban-like state," also posted a newscast describing the declaration from Lebanon's al-Jadeed TV:

The broadcaster had more on the story:

[The cleric] expressed his annoyance with the deprivation of the fighters of Islam, who are fighting in Syria alongside the armed opposition forces, from earthly pleasures.  He clarified that it has been two years since the jihadists last were with women.  Al-Arifi's fatwa allows the fighters in Syria to engage in a marriage...that lasts for a few hours from Syrian females, in order to give each fighter a turn.  ​[Emphasis added]

Obviously, critics are pointing out that the fatwa encourages rebel fighters to rape Syrian women, and feel religiously justified in doing it.

(Photo: Facebook/Shaykh Muhammed Al Arifi)

Commenters took the cleric's Facebook page to weigh in on the fatwa, many hurling insults at the religious figure.

There are doubts, though, that the cleric would issue such a decree (though he wouldn't be the first):

(Photo: Facebook/Shaykh Muhammed Al Arifi)

Less than one week ago, the Middle East Broadcast Center said Al-Arifi "should be at a psychiatric hospital" for saying a girl shouldn't be alone with her father because she might "tempt him into lusting after her," al-Arabiya relates.

(H/T: Gateway Pundit)

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