Saturday, March 31, 2018

Pakistan: Council of Islamic Ideology says laws prohibiting child marriage are un-Islamic

MAR 11, 2014 7:43 PM BY ROBERT SPENCER

As I explained in detail here, few things are more abundantly attested in Islamic law than the permissibility of child marriage. Islamic tradition records that Muhammad’s favorite wife, Aisha, was six when Muhammad wedded her and nine when he consummated the marriage. That being the case, how could the Council of Islamic Ideology issue any different ruling? Yet Islamic apologists in the West frequently insist that Aisha was post-pubescent and much older than nine when Muhammad consummated the marriage with her, and the credulous Infidels go back to sleep — while untold numbers of girls suffer in Islamic child marriages all over the world.

“Laws prohibiting underage marriage not Islamic: Council of Islamic Ideology,” from The Nation(Pakistan), March 11:

ISLAMABAD- The Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) ruled today that Pakistani laws prohibiting marriage of underage children are un-Islamic. At the end of its two-day session today, the CII said there is no minimum age of marriage according to Islam.

“Islam does not forbid marriage of young children,” the council said. “However, the consummation of marriage is only allowed when both husband and wife have reached puberty.”

If that is so, then why does the Qur’an specify that divorce procedures — specifically, the three-month waiting period before final divorce is granted — apply to girls who have not yet menstruated? “And those who no longer expect menstruation among your women – if you doubt, then their period is three months, and [also for] those who have not menstruated” (65:4).

The CII’s ruling comes a day after its chairman Maulana Mohammad Khan Sheerani said laws regarding second marriage of a man in the presence of a first wife were against religious principles. “Sharia allows men to have more than one wife and we demanded that the government should amend the law,” he told reporters after a CII meeting.

Pakistani law requires a man to have written approval from his existing wife or wives for another marriage. Sheerani urged the government to formulate Sharia-compliant laws related to marriage, divorce, adulthood and ‘will’. According to the Constitution of Pakistan, the CII is a recommendatory body that advises the parliament in the law-making process, but cannot enact laws on its own.