Arshad Ali Javed
January 2025
The practice of marrying a minor child is often defended by Muslim theologians as being rooted in fundamental principles of Islam. There have been instances where minor girls were married off to elderly men, with the broader Muslim community justifying such actions using arguments that they themselves find difficult to fully accept but still expect others to believe.
This single incident has become a significant source of mockery and embarrassment for us, fueling accusations that pedophilia is legitimized in Islam. As a result, we often find ourselves on the defensive, grappling with widespread disrespect toward our religion and the Holy Prophet (PBUH).
The question arises: who is truly at fault? Is it the media’s anti-Islam stance, or is it the Muslim theologians who justify these marriages under Sharia law? Those justifying such marriages conveniently take shelter in Sharia, saying that marrying a minor girl child is allowed in Islam. The Muslim community will normally put forward such logic and justification that is not even able to convince them. Even those who defend minor child marriage as permissible in Islam will never give their underage daughter to a grown-up man. People are scared to have a critical view of the topic, as it will contradict the rules set by the theologians. They feel it is safe to follow the historians and theologians blindly without any question.
Let us examine this subject from the perspective of Quran, Books of Hadiths and history:
A perusal of the Quran will reveal that marriage in Islam is a civil contract (meesaq):
How could you take it when you have been intimate with one another and they have made a binding contract with you? (4:21)
All scholars agree that marriage is a contract in Islam between man and woman and a contract can be finalized only between persons who are intellectually and physically mature enough to understand and fulfill the responsibilities of such a contract.
The very point of each party being capable to make a contract or having crossed the age of puberty is supported by other verses of the Quran as follows:
“Keep a close check on orphans until they reach a marriageable age, then if you perceive that they have sound judgment hand over their property to them…(4:6)”
It can be noted that the Quran makes intellectual maturity (which falls beyond the age of puberty) the basis to arrive at the age of marriage.
Each partner in marriage finds tranquility when together
Quran describes marriage as emotional bonding between two mutually compatible persons through which they seek “to dwell in tranquility” in the companionship of each other. (see 7:189 and 30:21). This kind of relationship is not possible if either of the spouses is mentally undeveloped. The calmness and tranquility in marriage are for both husband & wife, not just the husband. The full translation of the ayaat goes as follows:
Among His Signs is that He created spouses for you of your own kind so that you might find tranquillity in them. And He has placed affection and compassion between you. There are certainly Signs in that for people who reflect. (30:21)
It is He Who created you from a single person, and made his mate of like nature, in order that he might dwell with her (in love). When they are united…….. (7:189)
With total disregard to the primary source of Islam, the Quran, marriage of minor girl is legitimized by fatwas. The child marriage is justified on the basis of a recording in Bukhari which says that the prophet Mohammad (pbuh) married Hazrat Aisha (ra) when she was just 7 and consummated the marriage when she was nine.
You may be surprised to learn that there is no Hadith that legitimizes child marriage. This belief is based solely on a narration recorded in Sahih Bukhari, whose last narrator is a Tabi (a member of the generation after the Sahaba) named Hisham bin Urwah. This narration does not trace back to the Holy Prophet (PBUH) or any of his companions, as its chain of transmission ends with a Tabi.
Moreover, all scholarly communities agree on a fundamental principle: if any narrator of a Hadith is found to be from Iraq, the authenticity of that Hadith is considered 99% fake and 1% doubtful. This principle has been strictly followed by the Muhaddithin (Hadith scholars). Astonishingly, in this particular case, all the narrators of this recording are from Iraq. Among the 13 narrators of this narration mentioned in various Hadith collections, nine are from Kufa, and four are from Basra, all of whom transmitted it from Hisham after he moved to Iraq. This principle alone renders the narration void from the outset, warranting its rejection as unreliable.
Additionally, historical evidence suggests that Hazrat Ayesha (RA) was 17 years old at the time of her marriage and 19 at the time of its consummation. This has been thoroughly addressed in a separate article.
It is perplexing why some of our scholars overlook their own established principles in this matter. As mentioned earlier, this narration does not qualify as a Hadith in the true sense, as it neither represents the words of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) nor originates from a Sahabi (RA).
How can a weak and unfounded narration supersede the teachings of the Quran and undermine its clear commandments?
Can anybody expect that our Holy Prophet (pbuh) would do anything contrary to the spirit of the Quran? Certainly NOT.
We can expect historians to have erred in recording an event. This is quite possible because history is unseen and is recorded after hundreds of years of happening. Chances for misquote, errors and exaltation are always there. There are strong chances of a mistake in writing which is now regarded as unchangeable and unchallengeable.
Our beloved Prophet (pbuh) has been described in the Quran as a role model. His sole guide was the Quran as is evident in the following ayaats:
“..Say, ‘I follow only what has been revealed to me from my Lord.’ This is clear insight from your Lord, and guidance and mercy, for people who believe. (7:203)”
“When Our Clear Signs are recited to them, those who do not expect to meet Us say, ‘Bring a Qur’an other than this one or change it.’ Say: ‘It is not for me to change it of my own accord. I follow nothing except what is revealed to me. I fear, were I to disobey my Lord, the punishment of a Dreadful Day.’ (10:15)”
Final Truth
“Judge between them by what Allah has sent down and do not follow their whims and desires. And beware of them lest they lure you away from some of what Allah has sent down to you. If they turn their backs, then know that Allah wants to afflict them with some of their wrong actions. Many of mankind are deviators. (5:49)”