Forced Marriage

Forced marriage is the compelled marriage of an individual (usually female) against their will. The individual is usually forced by family members and in countries with primitive women's rights. Forcing a female who has reached the age of puberty to marry someone against her explicit wishes is forbidden in Islam. Nevertheless, Shari'ah fails to protect the most vulnerable - children.

Most (but not all) Muslim majority countries have made child marriage and forced marriage illegal. Nevertheless, such marriages still occur to a significant extent despite legal protections (and are not limited to Muslim communities). Many Muslim charities and campaign groups are working to prevent contemporary cases of forced marriage and to help those who seek their help.^[1] There are also government agencies who can and should be contacted when someone is at risk of forced marriage. Some charities advise those who realise too late that they are being taken overseas for a forced marriage to hide a spoon underneath their clothing so that when passing through the airport metal detector there will be an opportunity to explain the situation privately to the security team. Contacting the relevant national embassy is usually advised if already abroad.

Child marriage

As detailed below, Muhammad's marriage to six-year-old Aisha was cited in jurisprudence ruling that a child can be betrothed by her father without her explicit consent.^[2][3] Consummation of the marriage takes place when the father and husband believe she is ready for it. The tradition that Muhammad consummated his marriage to Aisha when she was nine^[4] has also featured in such judgements. A number of Quranic verses played a prominent role both in Quranic exegesis and legal disgussions about the consummation of marriage with pre-pubescent girls.^[5]

A father or guardian must ask the consent of his daughter before offering her in marriage if she is a virgin who has reached puberty, based on a well known sahih hadith. However, according to that same hadith, if she remains silent when asked, offering no explicit acceptance, this counts as consent.^[6]

A girl was thus expected to make a life changing decision on marriage while still a child, with very limited experience and utterly dependent on her parents. Child marriages occur all over the world, but especially in Muslim countries that practice the relevant part of the Shari'a. The UN regards child marriage as a human rights violation and aims to eradicate it by 2030. The girl is vulnerable to spousal abuse and childhood pregnancy which greatly jeopardizes her health and future.

Islamic law

Compulsion of minors and virgins

According to Professor Kecia Ali, Islamic jurists considered that the Quranic concept of "Bulugh, majority, was usually constituted by puberty, normally menarche for a girl and first nocturnal emission for a boy, though other signs of physical maturation could be taken into account." Quran verses that mention bulugh were taken into account in jurist discussions on marriage compulsion and there was also much discussion centred around the following hadith:

This appears to rule out a father forcing his virgin daughter into marriage without consulting her and obtaining her agreement, or at least her silence (though this can be abused, as mentioned above). However, Kecia Ali explains that the jurists were nevertheless in agreement that "a father's power of compulsion over his virgin daughter is unquestioned so long as she is a minor." Two founders of major schools of Sunni jurisprudence, Malik and Shafi'i, employed different strategies to get around the apparent implications of the above hadith.

Malik's legal methodology considered the custom of the people of Medina as more authoritative than this hadith. For Malik, either virginity or minority allowed compulsion.

For Abu Hanifa, there is no compulsion after majority. Later Hanafis ruled that a minor (virgin or otherwise) can be compelled into marriage.

Shafi'i claimed that the word for guardian in the hadith does not include a female whose guardian is her father, so a father could still compell his virgin daughter to marry. The rarer case of non-virgin minors were forbidden to be married again at all until they reached majority. For both Malik and Shafi'i, the father's power to compell his virgin daughter to marry continued even after the age of majority.^[7]

Kecia Ali further states that the example of Muhammad and his companions featured in these discussions. "Though the Muwatta and Mudawwana presented anecdotes about Companions and the Prophet marrying off their daughters, the Umm focused on the Prophet's marriage to 'A'isha". She further notes, "In Shafi'i's view, she was still a minor when consummation occurred. The binding nature of Muhammad and 'A'isha's union establishes fathers' power to contract binding marriages for their minor virgin daughters: 'Abu Bakr's marrying 'A'isha to the Prophet, may God's blessings and peace be upon him, when she was a girl of six and [the Prophet's] having sex with her when she was a girl of nine indicates that the father has more right over a virgin than she has over herself.'"^[8]

As well as the hadith quoted above, Muslim advocates of reform to laws on marriage highlight the following hadiths:

Option of puberty to annul the marriage

In all schools of classical Islamic law, a father was allowed to enter his pre-pubescent child into a marriage contract without consent. When the child reached the age of puberty he or she could exercise the "option of puberty" (khiyar al-bulugh) to repudiate the marriage, but only if it was entered into negligently, fraudulently or by someone other than the father or grandfather. The option was also lost to a virgin female who has reached puberty and who had taken no action or remained silent for what is considered a reasonable time after being informed of the contract. A male child retained his option in the same circumstances until he actively approved of the marriage ^[9][10]

Marital rape

The problem of marital rape is particularly likely to occur in cases of forced marriage. Islamic law obliges a woman to have sex with her husband whenever he asks for it unless she is menstruating or severely ill.^[11][12][13] In Iran, for example, tamkin is the word used to describe a woman's obligation to be sexually available at her husband's whim.^[14] There is no law in Islam that protects a woman from rape by her husband. In fact, a wife is a man's tilth, and he is permitted to approach her however and whenever he feels like it.^[15][16] If she feels that she is being mistreated, she must seek a divorce from an Islamic court and prove the mistreatment. If her husband divorces her, but changes his mind before the mandatory 'idda is over, he may take his wife back whether she desires to remain married to him or not.^[17][18]

Slaves and Captives

We must not forget the others whose lives are at the mercy of those known as owners. Although Islam promotes the freeing of slaves by promising divine rewards in the afterlife, it also institutionalizes the practice by sanctioning the capture and enslavement of enemy (kuffar) noncombatants as well as promoting an indulgence-style requirement of manumitting a slave for the compensation of sins committed.^[19] The buying and selling of human beings like livestock is permitted in Islam, and there is no limit to the number of slaves a Muslim can own so long as he (or she) can afford to feed, clothe, and shelter them. Slaves have no right over their own persons. A slave may not get married without his or her master's permission, and a slave can redeem his or herself only if the master allows it.

A female slave may be used for sex by her master. He does not need her permission to practice al-'azl, and after having sex with her he may sell her to another man or ransom her back to her family (if she had been captured during a battle or raid). If he desires her as a wife, he may marry her and does not have to pay her a bride price. Her freedom is considered her mahr. This can come in handy when a man is poor and yet desires to have a wife. A captured woman costs nothing, and he does not have to pay any money to marry her. A man may have sex with his captives and slaves without the permission of his wife (or wives).

The woman, of course, has no say in the matter. However, it would probably be in her best interest to get married seeing as though she might never experience freedom otherwise. Mandatory freeing of a female slave only occurs upon her master's death if she has given him a child. Whatever the scenario, a female slave has absolutely no control over her life. Her master can have sex with her if he wants (rape), sell her to another man, or give her in marriage to another man. Her wishes are meaningless and her compliance unnecessary. The only thing her master cannot do is earn money by prostituting her to other men.^[20]

Muhammad's slave girls and captives

Juwairiya

Juwairiya was a captive from the Banu Mustaliq tribe. She was given to one of the Muslims, and she entered into an agreement with him to purchase her freedom. She then sought assistance from Muhammad for the payment amount. He offered to pay the price of her freedom if she married him (since she was very beautiful). So, she married him and the captives were released because they had become the relatives of Muhammad by marriage. On account of Juwairiya, one hundred families of the Banu al-Mustaliq were set free.

Safiyah

Safiyah was a Jewish captive from Khaibar and chief mistress of the Quraiza and An-Nadir tribes. After the brutal death of her husband Kinana, she was given as war booty to one of the Muslims. Muhammad was informed of her great beauty, and so he ordered her owner to give her to him in exchange for another slave girl. He married her shortly thereafter, and considered her manumission to be her mahr. Of his nine wives, Muhammad spent the least amount of time with Safiya.

Mariyah

Mariyah was a Coptic concubine sent as a gift from Egypt to Muhammad. She gave birth to Muhammad's son Ibrahim, but he died by the time he was two. They were never married, but he had sex with her because she was his property.

Rayhana

Rayhana was a Jewish captive from the Quraiza tribe. One source says Muhammad offered her marriage instead of slavery, but she declined and remained Jewish. Another source says he married her, and her manumission was her mahr.

Relevant Quotations

See Also

• Marriage - A hub page that leads to other articles related to Marriage
• Forced Conversion

External links

Helplines

• Karma Nirvana - A registered charity based in Derby, supporting victims and survivors of forced marriages and honour based violence

News

• Forced Marriage Unit Intervened To Save 2-Year-Old Victim, Statistics Show - Jessica Elgot , The Huffington Post UK, March 5, 2013
• The Disappearance, Forced Conversions, and Forced Marriages of Coptic Christian Women in Egypt. pdf - A November 2009 Report Commissioned by Christian Solidarity International
• Afghan girls burn themselves to escape marriage - Adrienne Mong, NBC News Producer, MSNBC World Blog, October 29, 2009
• Rotterdam is tackling forced marriages - Klaas den Tek, RNW, September 25, 2009
• New school year puts French on forced marriage alert - Sophie Hardach, Reuters, September 2, 2009
• Netherlands: Muslim youth fear forced marriage - Islam in Europe, July 18, 2009 (This is a blog. The original news source is in Dutch.)
• English Summer = Forced Marriage Season? - Aidan Jones, ABC News, July 11, 2009
• Up to 8,000 forced marriages reported in England last year - Martin Beckford, The Telegraph, July 2, 2009
• A forced marriage stirs emotions in Spain, Mauritania - Earth Times, March 12, 2009
• Woman uses new forced marriage laws against father - Lucy Collins, The Independent, February 10, 2009
• Abducted. Abused. Raped. Survived: The survivors of forced marriages tell their stories - Rebecca Seal and Eva Wiseman, The Observer,January 11, 2009
• London doctor is held as forced marriage hostage - The Independent, December 7, 2008

• Statement from Humayra Abedin - The Guardian, December 19, 2008

• Fears over forced marriage levels - BBC News, March 11, 2008
• Marriage fear teenager 'murdered' - BBC News, January 11, 2008
• Muslim girls in Austria fighting forced marriages - Eric Geiger, San Francisco Chronicle, December 4, 2005

Videos

• Forced Child Marriage in Islam - Bare Naked Islam
• Around 90% of Afghan women suffer from domestic violence - CNN, October 2009

References