Child marriage in Islam is subject to the condition that it serve a clear and real interest

[FrodosPet]

https://islamqa.info/en/178318

Islam Question and Answer
General Supervisor: Shaykh Muhammad Saalih al-Munajjid

Question

From my understanding, Islamic Law states that if a girl passes puberty, she is allowed to be married - regardless of whether she is 9, 11, 15 etc Does the law take into consideration her emotional and mental readiness to be married, despite the physical ability to be able to bear children? It disturbs me that young girls who pass puberty are automatically believed to be whole-heartedly ready for marriage and motherhood JUST because she is physically able to do so. Isnt it equally important that she is emotionally and mentality ready for this role?

Also - does Islamic Law also state that if a boy passes puberty (regardless of his age), he is ALSO allowed to be married?.

Answer

Praise be to Allaah.
Firstly:

It is permissible for a man to arrange a marriage for his young son even if he has not reached puberty; it is also permissible for him to arrange a marriage for his young daughter even if she had not reached the age of puberty. It was narrated that there was consensus on this point, but that is provided that compatibility is taken into account and that a clear and real interest is served by this marriage.

Ibn ‘Abd al-Barr (may Allah have mercy on him) said:

The scholars are unanimously agreed that the father may arrange a marriage for his young daughter without consulting her. The Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) married ‘Aa’ishah when she was six years old.

~ snip ~

[cali]

1. What is your point in posting this?

[FrodosPet]

2. Child brides pose new challenge in ongoing refugee crisis

Recent news story

http://www.newsinenglish.no/2015/12/04/child-brides-pose-new-challenge-in-ongoing-refugee-crisis/

The case of a pregnant 14-year-old refugee girl from Syria, who also already had an 18-month-old child when she arrived in Norway with her husband this autumn, has posed a major dilemma for Norwegian authorities. Police have now decided to investigate, and may file charges against the 23-year-old father.

Under Norwegian law, the girl is a victim of sexual abuse and alleged forced marriage, and her husband may be guilty of having sex with a child. The offenses clearly occurred, however, outside Norway, which initially prompted Norwegian police to refrain from filing any charges when the young family first crossed the border from Russia in Northern Norway.

Public outcry when the case of the child bride became known, along with clear signals from government officials and many top politicians, prompted police to reconsider. “We will follow this up as a criminal case,” prosecutor Jens Herstad of the Øst-Finnmark Police District told state broadcaster NRK. Herstad said other state agencies will also be mobilized to assist the 14-year-old, who is now staying at an asylum center in southern Norway along with her child and husband.

While the police were roundly criticized for not acting immediately, Norwegian social anthropologist Unni Wikan warned that more such cases are likely to arise and present more dilemmas over how to handle asylum seekers who are child brides.

~ snip ~

[cali]

6. This is such a small problem within the massive tragedy of refugees from the

middle east. That doesn't mean I believe host nations should do nothing about it.

[melman]

15. Really?

That's pretty easy for you to say. It's probably not such a small problem for the child brides.

[smirkymonkey]

10. This is so tragic. These poor children will never know a normal life.

How can you when you become a wife and mother as a young teenager?

[zazen]

3. rape, slavery, and child molestation are offensive in any religion

Just as I'd hope contemporary Christians and Jews don't try to justify rape and murder by invoking stories in the Old Testament like the one where a father hands over his daughter to a gang of men to rape to death as recompense, I'd hope contemporary Muslims would not refer to fundamentalist readings of the Koran or the history of Mohammed for justification for child rape.

It's too bad if anyone's religious sensibilities are offended. Protecting children from the greater offense of sexual abuse is more important.

[CanonRay]

4. Trouble is, much of Islam seems to be stuck in the 11th Century, or trying to get back to it.

I'm not sure what happened to the liberal branches of Islam, but they seem to be in deep background.

[rtw]

5. They are treated like this lecturer.

You don't have to watch the whole thing unless you need convincing that she is not a hateful voice. Confrontations are at about 11 and 35 minutes.

https://m.

&ebc=ANyPxKo1UpyZSQrNz9ZLQln620oeF0WJm7FjHLzkqMfi06B07Y8nac6eWboay3IGUfDHse-e6yMN

[Yorktown]

8. The known liberal branches of Islam existed between the 8th and 10th centuries

Around the beginning of the 10th century, most Sunni jurists argued that all major matters of religious law had been settled, allowing for taqlid, "the established legal precedents and traditions," to take priority over ijtihad.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ijtihad

Notably the Mu'tazila, which is anathema to ISIS
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muʿtazila

[LanternWaste]

19. We often see only that which validates our biases, and ignore that which doesn't.

" but they seem to be in deep background."

We often see only that which validates our biases, and ignore that which doesn't.

[LittleBlue]

22. They were marginalized when Islam became more militarized after the Mongolian invasion

The Middle East became dominated by warlike Turkic cultures. Then the almost total loss of income from the Spice Road. The Islamic world has been on a downward slide for 500 years. Not sure we've even hit the bottom yet.

Without oil the Middle East would be in as bad off as sub-Saharan Africa.

[dumbcat]

7. I think your hope is dashed

...I'd hope contemporary Muslims would not refer to fundamentalist readings of the Koran or the history of Mohammed for justification for child rape.

But they do, as demonstrated in the quotes in the OP.

[REP]

11. Not his daughter; his concubine (Judges 19)

A man takes in a traveler. The men of the town demand the traveler be turned over to them so they can rape him. The man so no, he's a guest, you can't do that - rape my daughter and my concubine instead. They take the concubine and rape her all night. The next morning, the man finds her dead or unconscious on his doorstep, so he cuts her into 12 pieces and sends them all over Israel.

When a bible banger wants to discuss the bible with me, I almost always start with the Levite's Concubine.

[FrodosPet]

12. It seems that every major religion has a fucked up history

Christians and Jews being shitheads does not negate or excuse the fact that Islam permits, perhaps even encourages, child "brides".

For some horny old asshole, whether he is praying towards a cross or Mecca, to defile and damage a young child is abhorrent. As is giving some of them a pass because of the fear of being called "Islamophobic".

[REP]

16. But you're forgetting the rule!

If it's done to women and children, it's a valuable cultural tradition Westerners have no right criticizing. If it's done to men, it's a human rights abuse.

I don't use the sarcasm tag much, either.

[Tipperary]

9. Oh it serves a clear interest all right.

Of that I have no doubt.

[Jesus Malverde]

13. Migrant crisis: Dutch alarm over child brides from Syria

A 14-year-old girl has gone missing from a Dutch asylum centre. Police say Fatema Alkasem was nine months pregnant and may be in need of medical care.

She is also thought to be a "child bride", and her case has highlighted the problem that the Netherlands faces in providing asylum for girls who married in Syria but are below the Dutch age of consent.

The government in The Hague is rushing to close a loophole in the asylum law which has so far allowed child brides to be reunited with their husbands in the Netherlands.

The practice has inflamed debate about how the Netherlands is responding to the refugee crisis, with some arguing it is condoning paedophilia.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-34573825

[FrodosPet]

14. I was just schooled on that upstream. Apparently, it is not that big of a deal

"This is such a small problem within the massive tragedy of refugees from the Middle East"

I guess it is OK for the host nations to do something, but the general public should not talk about it.

[REP]

17. I bet it's not that small a problem to the children forced into marriages and childbearing

How many child sex slaves do there need to be before it's worth bothering about?

[LanternWaste]

18. Nor is it a big among the myopic to discuss that same problem already existing in the US.

Nor is it a big among the myopic to discuss that same problem already existing in the US.

"Nevertheless, the data show that 3,499 children were married in New Jersey between 1995 and 2012. Most were age 16 or 17 and married with parental consent, but 178 were between ages 10 and 15, meaning a judge approved their marriages.

Shockingly, 91 percent of the children were married to adults, often at ages or with age differences that could have triggered statutory-rape charges, not a marriage license. A judge in 2006 approved the marriage of a 10-year-old boy to an 18-year-old woman. A judge in 1996 allowed a 12-year-old girl to marry a 25-year-old man."

The survey found child marriage or forced marriage, or both, in families of many faiths, including Muslim, Christian (particularly Catholic), Hindu, Buddhist and Sikh. I have seen child and forced marriage in the Orthodox Jewish community, and I know survivors from Mormon and Unification Church backgrounds.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/14/opinion/americas-child-marriage-problem.html

[FrodosPet]

20. I fully support slamming those dirtballs hard as well

The filthy pigs who would rob a child's innocence AND any judge who would allow it.

[FrodosPet]

21. I started an OP on that very thing

Thank you for pointing that out. It is terrible that this is even possible, and yes, it needs more public attention.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10027435484