Forty-one-year-old man says he had wanted to marry his ‘bride’ since she was seven

Che Abdul (photo above) married the 11-year-old child — his daughter’s best friend — in late June 2018. PHOTO via Kosmo!
Che Abdul (photo above) married the 11-year-old child — his daughter’s best friend — in late June 2018. PHOTO via Kosmo!

We’re sorry to interrupt your lunch hour, and inner sanctum of peace, to report skin-curling, stomach-churning developments: The 41-year-old Kelantan man who had previously been “married” to an 11-year-old girl elaborated his stance on the matter to local paper, Berita Harian Online.

Che Abdul Karim Che Abdul Hamid told reporters that he had been wanting to marry the young girl since she was seven-years-old, saying his intentions were well-known within the village community. Che Abdul had even showed his friends a photo of young Ayu on a pilgrimage to Mecca, reiterating his intent to them.

Claiming to be unsure about what drew him to come to the conclusion that marrying someone who was barely not toddler, he told reporters that whatever it was, it was not desire.

Instead, he says that he standing within the village as being a Quran instructor will allow him to protect the child, and provide welfare for her.

You know, like parents are supposed to for their children, but instead Che Abdul wants this child to be his wife.

Villagers and friends were not shocked by the union between a grown man, with children the same age as his new “wife;” only “outsiders” seem to find the match peculiar, he said.

“I have known Ayu since she was small because we were neighbours, and I also taught her Quran lessons … It was then I told myself ‘one day I will take this girl as my wife’ and I did so four years later.”

“Believe me death and jodoh (destined partner) comes from Allah — insult me if you must, but I am not scared or dissuaded from going through with the marriage because my new responsibility is teaching her to be closer to Allah.”

He says that after marriage he will guide her closer to Allah, and that he hopes that she and his other two, adult, wives, can all live together in harmony.

Ayu has not met with her “sister-wives,” as it were, as Che Abdul claims he is “protecting” his first and second wives’ emotions.

As for all these bad vibes most of Malaysia seem to be putting out over the union? “Stop insulting us,” he asks. (Ed. Note: Pretty sure the only insults are directed at you, sir), and “pray for our happiness together.”

Yeah. Not gonna do that, thanks.

Malaysian activists have called for law reform to end child marriage, which they said was widespread among the country’s Muslim population. While civil marriages have a minimum age requirement of 18-years-old, Muslim unions can often circumvent this via parental consent.

Some 16,000 Malaysian girls below the age of 15 are already married, advocates claim.

 



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