Child Marriage in the Muslim World: Difference between revisions

In many Islamic countries, child marriages are common practice. Girls far below the age of puberty are often forcibly married to older persons  (sometimes in their 50s and later) for various personal gains by the girls' guardian or with the intention to preserve family [[Honor Violence|honor]] by helping her avoid pre-marital [[sex]]. Pedophilic Islamic marriages are most prevalent in [[Pakistan]] and [[Afghanistan]], followed by other countries in the [[Middle East]] and [[Bangladesh]].<ref>[http://www.americamagazine.org/content/article.cfm?article_id=1631 America Magazine: Child Marriage in Afghanistan and Pakistan, by Andrew Bushell; March 11, 2002]</ref><ref>[http://www.americansforunfpa.org/NetCommunity/Page.aspx?pid=630 Americans For UNFPA: Virtual Slavery: The Practice of “Compensation Marriages” by Net Community of AfUNFPA; last retrieved Monday, 08 December 2008]</ref> This practice may also be prevalent to a lesser extent amongst other [[Ummah|Muslim communities]], and is on the rise among the growing Muslim populations in many non-Muslim countries, such as the [[United Kingdom]]<ref name="Ten-fold rise in forced marriages in just four years"></ref> and the [[United States]].<ref>Christine Vendel - [http://www.kansascity.com/105/story/1557578.html?pageNum=2&mi_pluck_action=page_nav#Comments_Container Man charged with statutory rape in ‘marriage’ to 14-year-old girl] - The Kansas City Star, November 8, 2009</ref>

{{Quote||Northern Nigeria has one of the highest rates of child marriage in the world: nearly half of all girls here are married by the age of 15.

The consequences have been devastating. Nigeria has the highest maternal mortality rate in Africa and one of the world’s highest rates of fistula, a condition that can occur when the pressure of childbirth tears a hole between the vagina and the bladder or rectum. Many women are left incontinent for life. Up to 800,000 women suffer from fistula in Nigeria.<BR>. . .<BR>

Dr Waaldijk operates on up to 600 women a year, with no electricity or running water... Some have been divorced by their husbands - it is estimated that up to half of adolescent girls in northern Nigeria are divorced... The Nigerian federal Government has attempted to outlaw child marriage. In 2003 it passed the Child Rights Act, prohibiting marriage under the age of 18. In the Muslim northern states, though, there has been fierce resistance to the Act, with many people portraying it as antiIslamic.<BR>. . .<BR>

Half of Nigeria’s 36 states have passed the Act, but it has been adopted by only one of the dozen Muslim states - and even that one made a crucial amendment substituting the age of 18 for the term “puberty”.

 

Each state in Nigeria has the constitutional right to amend legislation to comply with its local traditions and religion, meaning that central government is powerless to impose a minimum age of marriage.<ref name="TONOV282008"></ref>}}

{{Quote|Skeikh Mohamed Ibn Abderrahmane Al-Maghraoui |A nine-year-old girl has the same sexual capacities like a woman of twenty and over.<ref>[http://www.ansamed.info/en/news/[email protected] Fatwa in favour of 9-year-old girl marriage, Polemics] - ANSA''med'', September 8, 2008</ref>}}

{{Quote|Dr. Ahmad al-Mu’bi, Saudi marriage officiant|You can have a marriage contract even with a 1-year-old girl, not to mention a girl of 9, 7 or 8.  But is the girl ready for sex or not?  What is the appropriate age for sex for the first time? This varies according to environment and tradition.<ref>[http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/1798.htm LBC TV (Lebanon) - June 19, 2008 - 03:08] - MEMRI TV, Video Clip No. 1798</ref>}}

{{Quote|1=Ahmed Sani Yerima, former governor and current senator of Zamfara State, Nigeria|2=Child marriage in Islam is permissible. In the Koran there is no specific age of marriage...[If the government imposed new laws against child marriage] There will be violent conflict from the Muslims, saying that 'no, we will not accept this, we'd rather die than accept something which is not a law from Allah.'<ref name="TONOV282008">{{cite web|url= http://www.wunrn.com/news/2008/11_08/11_24_08/112408_nigeria.htm|title= Nigeria Child Brides-Broken Lives |publisher= Times Online|author= |date= November 28, 2008|archiveurl= http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wunrn.com%2Fnews%2F2008%2F11_08%2F11_24_08%2F112408_nigeria.htm&date=2013-06-15|deadurl=no}}</ref>}}

 

{{Quote|Ahmed Sani Yerima, former governor and current senator of Zamfara State, Nigeria<ref name="TNTJuly212013"></ref>|Nigeria has many uncountable problems and none of them is early marriage. As a matter of fact early marriage (is) the solution to about half of our problems. For those who wonder if I can give my daughter(s) out in marriage at the age of 9 or 13, I tell you most honestly, I can give her out at the age of 6 if I want to and it’s not your business. This is because I am a Muslim and I follow the example of the best of mankind, Muhammad ﺻَﻠَّﻰ ﺍﻟﻠَّﻪُ ﻋَﻠَﻴْﻪِ ﻭَﺳَﻠَّﻢَ... }}

:''Main Article: [[Muhammad and the Clinical Definition of Pedophilia]]''

== Example Cases Around the World ==

In countries like Yemen, Bangladesh, Iran, and Northern Nigeria, attempts at reforming laws and banning child marriages have been opposed and stopped on the grounds that such a ban would be un-Islamic,<ref name="TONOV282008"></ref><ref name="TNTJuly212013">{{cite web |url= http://thenigeriatoday.net/i-could-marry-off-my-six-year-old-daughter-if-i-so-wished-senator-ahmed-yerima-replies-critics/|title= I Could Marry Off My Six Year Old Daughter If I So Wished, Senator Ahmed Yerima Replies Critics|publisher= The Nigeria Today|author= |date= July 21, 2013|archiveurl= http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fthenigeriatoday.net%2Fi-could-marry-off-my-six-year-old-daughter-if-i-so-wished-senator-ahmed-yerima-replies-critics%2F&date=2013-07-22|deadurl=no}}</ref><ref name="Weekly Blitz"></ref><ref name="MESSAGE"></ref><ref name="IRIN"></ref> and in the case of Malaysia, the growing Muslim population has effectively turned back the clock on social progress by passing new laws which allow for the practice of pedophilic marriages specifically between followers of Islam.<ref name="World News Australia"></ref> So one has to agree that whatever reasons and justification people may give for the prevalence of child marriages in Muslim-majority nations, without Islam this practice would have long been discarded as immoral and unacceptable in the modern world.  

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