Qur'an, Hadith and Scholars:Child Marriage: Difference between revisions

The hadith and sira tradition is very explicit about the fact that Muhammad [[Aisha's Age|married Aisha when she was six, and consummated the marriage when she was nine.]] As Muhammad is [[Uswa Hasana|"al-insaan al-kaamil"]]. This marriage was used by jurists of the Shafi'i and Hanbali schools in their discussions of compulsion of minors into marriage and the age of consummation, respectively (see [[Forced Marriage]] and [[Child Marriage in Islamic Law]]). Both the Qur'an and the hadiths have played an important role in legal and exegetical discussions on these topics, in particular Q. 65:4 which was generally understood to allude to divorced pre-pubescent wives. Though there was no minimum age for the marriage contract, Islamic law generally permitted a girl to live with her husband and consummate the marriage when she could tolerate intercourse without physical harm, which according to some jurists sometimes may be the case while she was still a minor.

Today, [[w:Marriageable_age|many modern Muslim countries]] have legislated to raise the minimum age of marriage, in many cases to the age of 16 or 18 for girls (though often with loopholes or with ineffective enforcement) and to prevent forced marriage, often in the face of opposition from Islamic scholars. Many Muslim campaign groups and charities have been involved in this process and continue to offer help to those at risk (see the article [[Forced Marriage]] which includes sources of help).<ref>For example [https://www.mwnuk.co.uk/Forced_Marriage_7_factsheets.php Muslim Women's Network UK] and [https://preventforcedmarriage.org/forced-marriage-overseas-pakistan/ Tahirih Justice Center Forced Marriage Initiative]</ref> In collaboration with activists, in 2019 the deputy Grand Mufti of al-Azhar University in Cairo issued a fatwa calling for marriage based on mutual consent with a minimum age set as 18.<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2019/jun/21/senior-islamic-cleric-issues-fatwa-against-child-marriage Senior Islamic cleric issues fatwa against child marriage] - Guardian.com</ref> Unicef say that the prevalence of child marriages are decreasing globally but are nevetheless common (including among non-Muslim populations in some regions of the world).

The following is from Bukhari's chapter introduction for chapter 39, Book an-Nikkah. It appears immediately before the first and only hadith of Chapter 39, {{Bukhari|7|62|64}} and can be seen in the Dar-us-Salam print edition, volume 7.

{{Quote|{{Muslim|8|3307}}|Ibn Abbas (Allah be pleased with them) reported Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) as saying:

{{Quote|{{Muslim|8|3310}}|A'isha (Allah be pleased with her) reported: Allah's Apostle (Mohammad) married me when I was six years old, and I was admitted to his house when I was nine years old.}}