There
was absolutely no spur to comment on the raging controversy of child
marriage during the month of Ramadan basically because other issues
relevant to the holy month and fasting remained inexhaustible. While
preparing for the Eid yesterday, I recalled a number of people had
sought my opinion and that of Islam on the issue, so, it became one of
the issues staring at me on my table.
With what I have read in the
newspapers, I pulled a call through to a few scholars in order to know
their position. I was not dissappointed afterall because, the Quran and
hadiths are clear and anyone who without prejudice wants to know the
truth, will discern clearly that Islam is not only a religion but a
perfect way of life that provides answers to every question in this
so-called modern world. Without any anachronistic moral judgments, Islam
does not support marriage to a minor.
First, the Quran indicates
maturity and sound judgment as marriageable level. It does not specify
certain age limit for marriage neither the hadiths, perhaps because
Allah has created every human being with his or her own uniqueness. Some
grow tall while some are short; some fair and some dark, some attain
maturity earlier than the other. Physical characteristics vary depending
upon our genes and the environment in which we grow.
Back in
medieval age, even in Europe, girls were married when they are children.
In Africa as well, early marriages were a common phenomena. Many
grandmas married at early ages irrespective of religion. In fact, the
issue of early marriage is not about religion but mainly about culture
and the environment. Prior to Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w) in Arabia, it was
a common knowledge that females were considered property, objects for
sacrifice.
Those ignorant tribal and cultural prejudices and
practices persist, but Islamic position must be noted. In Saudi Arabia, a
few years back, despite Islam, an 8-year-old girl who had been married
by her father to a 47 year-old “friend” to settle Dad’s debt of about
$13,000 approached the court and annulled the wedding.
Islam as a
religion provides guidelines on the stage, conditions and process of
mariage. In Quran 4:6, it says: “And test the orphans [in their
abilities] until they reach marriageable age/puberty. (baligh) Then if
you perceive in them sound judgement, (rushdah) release their property
to them. And do not consume it excessively and quickly, [anticipating]
that they will grow up. And whoever, [when acting as guardian], is
self-sufficient should refrain [from taking a fee]; and whoever is poor –
let him take according to what is acceptable. Then when you release
their property to them, bring witnesses upon them. And sufficient is
Allah as Accountant.”
Under this verse, the stage at which Islam
recommends marriage is majority and sound judgement (baligh and
rushdah). While majority could be said to mean attainment of menstrual
period, development to full womanhood; sound judgement is attained with
some level of education, whether formal or informal. Here, the ability
to discern the implication of marriage, as well as to being able to
carry out the responsibility of a wife and a mother is very important.
*Sheikh Abdullah Gbade Akinbode leading a superrogatory prayer during the Lailatul-Quadr held by NASFAT in Mowe, Ogun State.
The
element of having a mature intellect is the ability to understand that
one has choices, and the ability to choose the preferential option. The
fact remains that a child does not know about the intricacies of
marriage and the burden of bearing a child. Even if under any pretense
to subvert this proviso by any desperado, there are four basic
conditions that must be met before marriage is established in Islam.
These are (1) proposal and acceptance (al-Ijaab waalqubuul), (2)
approval by both parents (ridaa waalidayn), (3) payment of a dowry by
the groom (al-mihr) and (4) the presence of at least two male witnesses
at the ceremony (shaahidayn ‘aadilayn)
The import of these
condition is that the female has the right to accept or reject marriage
proposal. Her consent is a prerequisite to the validity of the marriage
contract. If a marriage of a girl is arranged without her consent, then
such a marriage may be annulled if she so wishes. To prove this, in
Ibn-Majah hadiths collection, “Ibn Abbas reported that a girl came to
the Messenger of Allah, and she reported that her father had forced her
to marry without her consent. The Messenger of God gave her the choice
between accepting the marriage or invalidating it.”
In all of the
classical legal opinions, the age of majority was equated with attaining
puberty and demonstrating adequate mental development.
Let us
even assume that a minor may not know the implication of what she was
giving her consent to; in most cases where the practice is common, a
judge (qadi) will appoint two matron to examine the girl on her physical
preparedness for marriage. And if the Matron found out that the bride
to be is not fit, marriage will not be established. And in the case
where the girl having attained maturity and sound judgement declines her
interest in marrying the man, the marriage becomes annuled.
Note
also that it is only after the bride attains maturity, or sound
judgement to be able to handle her own property that she can receive her
dowry; (sadaak) just as it is also stated that without dowry, no
marriage is established. It points to the fact that the injunction of
the Quran on maturity and sound judgement must be properly established.
Again,
another point of note is that even as the Quran did not fix the age of
marriage, it does not support the marriage of girl who has not attained
maturity.
Conditions of fitness
When a girl is married out
at an early age, she will not live with the husband until she is fit for
marital sexual relations. (hata tutilqal-rijal) All the scholars of
Islamic fiqh maintain that a wife must not be taken to her husband’s
house until she reaches the condition of fitness for sexual relations.
Betrothal may take place at any age, actual marriage comes later after
attainment of puberty and sound judgement.
We will not close our
eyes to the account that Aisha (r.t.a) was married to the Prophet at the
age of nine. But the issue itself has generated mixed reaction from
the Muslims world-over. While some insisted that Aisha’s age at marriage
was nine, others maintained that she was 19 years of age when she
arrived in the house of the Prophet as a wife.
Sheikh
Waheed-ud-Deen writes in his well-known book ‘Ahmal fi Asma al-Rajja’:
“At the time of the consummation of her marriage Seyida Aisha’s age was
not less than 18-19 years.” Aisha was married in 622 C.E., and although
her exact birthday is unknown, Abu Ja’far Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari
recorded that it happened before Islam was revealed in 610. The earliest
surviving biography of Muhammad, Abu Muhammad ‘Abd al-Malik bin
Hisham’s recension of Ibn Ishaq’s Sirat Rasul Allah — The Life of the
Messenger of God records that Aisha accepted Islam shortly after it was
revealed — 12 years before her marriage — and there is no way she could
have done so as an infant or toddler.
Days of ignorance
In
‘Book of History’, volume 4, page number 50 Ibn Jazeer al-Tabari writes
that Abu Bakr married two ladies in the days of ignorance. Fateelah,
daughter of Abd al-Aza was the first and Umm-i-Rooman was the second,
from whom Abd al-Rahman and Aisha were born. All the children of Abu
Bakr were born in the days of ignorance. Abd al-Rahman, son of Abu Bakr
fought against the Muslims in the battle of Badr. His age was 21-22
years and he was older than Aisha; but the difference between their ages
was not more than three to four years.
It is on record that Aisha
was involved in the assistant of Muslims in the Battles of Badr in 624
and Uhud in 625, in neither of which was anyone under the age of 15
allowed.
Again, Imam Wali-ud-Din Muhammad ibn Abdullah Al-Khatib,
who died more than 700 years ago, recorded in the biographical section
of Miskat al-Masabih that Asma, her sister who was 10 years older, died
at the age of 100, and 72 years after Aisha’s wedding. This makes
Aisha’s age at the time of her marriage at least 14, and at the time of
her marriage’s consummation almost 18.
Again, that the Prophet has
not done anything that the companions have not emulated. How did they
treat this issue? May be we will have to do more research on that.
Lastly,
the Prophet himself said: ‘O young people! Whoever among you is able to
marry, should marry, and whoever is not able to marry, is recommended
to fast, as fasting diminishes his sexual power. (Translation of Sahih
Bukhari, Volume 7, BOOK 62: Wedlock, Marriage (Nikah), Number 3)” In
this context, scholars say the hadith is referring to young grown up man
and woman.
The polemics that Aisha was an adult when she
consummated her marriage with Muhammad was more plausible and no one
should use that as an alibi to potray Islam in bad light. The concern to
want to protect young people is a genuine concern of Muslims and Islam.
This is so because it will protect the entire human dignity. Maturity
and sound judgement are imperative in providing the dignity, not
necessarily age.
Don’t link Islam with child marriage discourse — Akinbode
LAGOS
— As thousands of Muslims gathered at the Nasrul-Lahi-l-Fatih Society
of Nigeria, NASFAT, Islamic centre, Mowe, Ogun State to observe the
Lailatul Qadr otherwise known as Night of Majesty, yesterday, the
National Missioner of the group, Sheikh Abdullah Akinbode has warned
that no one should link Islam with the raging controversy of child
marriage, saying Islam advocates maturity before a girl’s hand can be
given out in marriage.
Akinbode while fielding questions from Vanguard said, maturity cum puberty is a condition for a girl in Islamic marriage.
He
said: “Islam cannot be linked with the issue of child marriage, puberty
and maturity is one of the conditions for giving out a girl’s hand in
marriage.”
Reacting to the case of Aisha, Akinbode said: “When
Aisha (r.t.a) was betrothed to the prophet, she was handed over to
Khadijah to train and for many years she remained with Khadijah until
her death. Beside, she was betrothed to the prophet for the reason of
her outstanding intellect, she was very gifted in memorizing the acts
and sayings of the prophet which is the hadiths.”
Lessons of Ramadan
Akinbode urged Muslims to reflect further on the lessons of Ramadan even after Ramadan.
He
noted: “The lessons of Ramadan which revolve around self restraint and
denials, self discipline and sacrifice for the good of a larger
population, mutual compassion and peaceful cohabitation with others in
the community, sharing part of our wealth and caring for the less
privileged as well as strengthening our moral values of integrity,
honesty and mutual support for progress must continue to live with us.”
President
of the association, Alhaji Sheriff Yussuf, whose speech was delivered
by the First Vice President of the group, Mr Muhammad Abdullah,
disclosed that apart from the development of Fountain University, Osogbo
and the Mowe International Islamic Resort Centre, the group would soon
begin Nasfat Agency for Zakaat and Sadaqat as an NGO which, according to
him, would revolutionise the propagation and administration of Zakaat
institution in Nigeria.
NSCDC boss charges Muslim faithful
By Bose Adelaja
THE
Commandant General of Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Dr. Ade
Abolurin, has called on Muslim faithful to see the Ramadan season as a
means of lending a helping hand to others as well as channeling ones’
request to God irrespective of pattern of worship.
Also, he
assured of the Corp’s determination to provide adequate security of life
and property throughout the festive period and called on undesirable
elements in the society to repent or face the wrath of law.
In a
statement signed the Corp’s National Public Relations Officer, PRO CSC
Okeh, Emmanuel, the NSCDC boss said the religion preaches tolerance
which must be adhered to by the followers, ‘’Islam like the Christian
religion preaches tolerance, love, unity and peace in society. If we can
all abide by the teachings of the Holy Prophet without being heretic
about the practices of our faith, there won’t be the problem of hurting
or killing one another rather, we shall be concerned with living in
unity,’’ The NSCDC boss congratulated the Muslims for a
successful fasting exercise as well as the opportunity to witness the
celebration that follows adding, ‘’this is the sign of Allah’s
acceptance of the prayers and penitence which has called for a sober
reflection. Nigeria can develop if we give peace a chance and allow the
government’s Transfor-mation Agenda’ to work so as to enjoy the full
benefits and the dividend of democracy,’’ said the Commandant General.
Abolurin
called on religious leaders to be crusaders of govern-ment activities
in their domain, while also urging the citizens to go about their
celebrations with the fear of God, respect for the rule of law and
mutual tolerance for others.
Source: Vanguard
