Child Marriage in Islamic Law: Difference between revisions

{{QualityScore|Lead=4|Structure=4|Content=4|Language=4|References=3}}[[File:Child marriage.jpg|thumb|Ghulan Haider, 11, married Faiz Mohammed, age 40. She hoped to become a teacher but was forced to quit her classes upon engagement. Image from the ''New York Times Magazine''.]]'''Child marriage''' '''and''' '''sexual activity between adults and children''' are sanctioned by [[Shari'ah (Islamic Law)|Islamic law]] and were practiced by [[Muhammad's Wives|Muhammad]] and his [[Sahabah|companions]]. As is the case within all contexts where sexual activity ''is'' ''permitted'' in Islam - namely, [[marriage]] and [[slavery]] - [[Islam and Women|female]] [[Rape in Islamic Law|consent is not required]] and the category of "rape" does not exist (even while the category of "rape" exists outside these contexts). The only restriction on sexual activity with children of any age within the contexts of marriage and slavery is that the child should not come to severe physical harm as a consequence of the encounter ("mental anguish", as such, is not considered, and consent is regardless irrelevant). Consequently, men are advised to avoid vaginal penetration with their child wives and female slaves if they are too small to endure such activity, although other forms of sexual activity with such children are permitted. "[[Thighing]]", explicitly discussed by Islamic jurists, is one such variety of alternative sexual activity that men may engage in with their child wives and female slaves if they are too small to endure penetration.