well i agree on this, not always 12 years old but they are forced by family, i have heard about it a lot of times.No no, you do not get it right, when someone wants marry a girl parents agreement is needed, not being forced by family, there is a difference lol agreement is needed with christians too, at least most asks for parents opinion. maybe it doesn't happen too often in rich muslim countries but doesn't mean it doesn't happens elsewhere, there's a lot facts. why? reason is many people still keeps old terrible traditions there and can't get over it.I have never heard of a father forcing his daughter to marry someone she doesn't want, either in the GCC countries nor North African Arab countries. Also the GCC are the only Arabs who still strongly uses Old Arabs traditional habits. (GCC = United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman)