Iraq legalizes marriages with nine-year-old girls: Society: World: Lenta.ru

In many Muslim countries, early marriage is a social norm. Some rulers, wanting to gain greater popularity, intend to officially allow adult men to marry young girls. For example, the potential winner of the parliamentary elections in Iraq, Nouri al-Maliki, promised to adopt the “Jafari Personal Status Law,” which openly proclaims the possibility of early marriage. And yet, in many developed countries, such reforms are interpreted as a manifestation of pedophilia and trafficking in minors.

Muslim countries

States, the bulk of whose population professes Islam, are increasingly involved in international relations. In many countries of the world there are Muslim communities, mosques and schools for the faithful are being built. In the Islamic states themselves, demographic growth is so rapid that the population is forced to gradually emigrate to other territories.

Officially Muslim countries are:

In the CIS: Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan.
Asian countries: Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, Palestine, Turkey, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Bahrain, UAE, Oman, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Yemen, Qatar, Bangladesh, Maldives, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia.
States that are members of the African Union: Djibouti, Egypt, Comoros, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Algeria, Western Sahara, Mauritania, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia, Burkina Faso, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Chad.

Currently, the number of Muslims is rapidly increasing. But in keeping with the spirit of modernity, many young people no longer adhere to Sharia law as strictly as their ancestors. There is a gradual assimilation of Muslims into European culture and, as a result, even a denial of the basic tenets of the Islamic faith. But the tradition of early marriage in Muslim countries is still relevant today.

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Photo: Caravan

Topic: Social consequences of the 1400-year-old tradition of consanguineous marriages. This information is thought provoking. The average IQ in Muslim countries is 81! This document was received from a Lockheed employee who went on business trips to Saudi Arabia three times. Worth reading!

During the Lockheed KV-107 and C-130 pilot transition program, we discovered that most Saudi trainee pilots had very limited night vision ability, even on the brightest moonlit nights. Their speed of memorizing educational material was minimal, even among technical staff. Some of them had a weak memory, and it was necessary to constantly remind them of the material covered with them the day before. American, English and other Western instructors very quickly burned out at this job. Muslim C-130 pilots actually required years of training before they were comfortable flying in the dark, but even then, they were reluctant to leave the city lights. Ask anyone in the Navy, Air Force or Army who trained the Iraqis and especially the Afghans. Islam is not only a religion. This is a way of life, in all its manifestations. In addition, there are a number of facts demonstrating the peculiarities of Muslim traditions, faith and way of life. 1400 years of consanguineous marriages. This interested me. I didn't know whether to believe it or not. To study the topic, I turned to Wikipedia: “Marriages between cousins” and further, deeper, to the article “Genetics”. It seemed to me that there was a lot of truthful information there.

What are the consequences? A huge problem for Muslims is consanguineous marriages. Nikolai Sennels, a Danish psychologist who has conducted extensive research on a little-known problem in the Muslim world: the disastrous results of Muslim consanguineous marriages caused by first cousins marrying. This custom, which had been prohibited by the Judeo-Christian tradition since the time of Moses, was approved by Muhammad and has continued in the Muslim world for 50 generations (1400 years). The Muslim world will never give up the custom of consanguineous marriages, since Magomed is the highest example and authority for Muslims in all everyday matters, including marriage. It is possible that the widespread proliferation of consanguineous marriages in Muslim culture has, in fact, caused irreversible damage to the Muslim gene pool, including widespread damage to intelligence, sanity and general health. According to Sennels, nearly half of all Muslims in the world are in consanguineous marriages. In Pakistan this number reaches 70%. Even in England, more than half of Pakistani immigrants are married to their first cousins. In Denmark, the number of Pakistani immigrants in consanguineous marriages is close to 40%. The results are equally stunning in other important Muslim countries: 67% in Saudi Arabia, 64% in Jordan and Kuwait, 63% in Sudan, 60% in Iraq and 54% in the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.

What are the social implications for the non-Muslim community? According to the BBC, these Pakistani consanguineous marriages, traditional among Muslims, explain the possibility that Anglo-Pakistani families are more than 13 times more likely to have children with the recessive genetic disorder. Of all children born in the UK, only 3% are Pakistani, but they account for 33% of all children with genetic birth defects. The risk of so-called autosomatic recessive disorders, such as cystic fibrosis and spinal muscular atrophy, is 18 times higher, and the risk of death due to abnormal development is 10 times higher. Other negative consequences of consanguineous marriages: a 100% increase in the risk of stillbirth and a 50% increase in the possibility of the child dying during childbirth. Reduced intellectual capacity is another devastating consequence of Muslim consanguineous marriages. According to Sennels, studies have shown that children of consanguineous parents lose 10-16 IQ points and the social abilities of such children develop much more slowly. The risk of having an IQ below 70, the official threshold below which a person is considered “mentally retarded,” increases by a staggering 400% among children of first-cousin marriages. (A similar effect was observed in the pharaonic dynasties of ancient Egypt and in the British royal families, where marriages between immediate family members were the norm for a significant period of time.) In Denmark, immigrants from Muslim countries have a high chance of failing the intelligence test required to join the Danish army. Sennels says, "The ability to enjoy learning and to demonstrate erudition, as well as the ability to think abstractly, is simply lower in the Islamic world." He points out that the entire Arab world translates only 330 books each year. This represents about 20% of translated books published in Greece alone. Over the past 1,200 years, only 100,000 books have been translated into Arabic. Spain transfers this amount within one year. Seven out of ten Turks have never read a book. “Low IQ, coupled with a religion that prohibits critical thinking, creates difficulties for Muslims who want to succeed in Western high-tech societies,” Sennels notes. Among all the Nobel Prize laureates, only 9 were Muslims, while 5 of them received the Peace Prize. According to the journal Nature, Muslim countries conduct only 10% of scientific research in the world, which is estimated by the number of scientific articles published per 1 million population. In Sennels' home country of Denmark, Muslim children clearly overrepresent children with special needs. In Denmark, one third of the school budget is spent on special education. In Copenhagen, 51-70% of mentally retarded children with physical disabilities are children of immigrants. Their ability to learn is also particularly affected. Research has shown that 64% of school-aged children with Arab parents continue to be illiterate, even after 10 years of education in the Danish school system. The dropout rate of immigrant children in high schools in Denmark is twice as high as that of locals. Mental illness is also a result of consanguineous marriages. The closer the blood relationship, the greater the risk of schizophrenic diseases. The increased risk of insanity may explain why more than 40% of patients in the largest Danish unit for clinically schizophrenic offenders have an immigrant background. And the US is not immune to this. According to Sennels: “One study, based on a survey of 300,000 Americans, shows that most Muslims in the United States have lower incomes, are less educated, and have worse working conditions than the general population.” Thanks to the excellent social support programs provided in the United States, including an abundance of food stamps, free phones, family benefits, health care, subsidized apartments and much more, this country has become a great place to live.

Sennels' Conclusions Because Muslim religious faith prohibits marriage with non-Muslims, and thus prevents the addition of fresh genetic material to their population, the genetic damage to their hereditary stock is likely to be quite significant since 1400 years ago their preacher allowed marriages between cousins. This has had an overwhelming direct and indirect impact on social development.

Conclusion Islam is not a harmless and morally equivalent alternative to the Judeo-Christian tradition. As Sennels notes, Muslims themselves are Islam's first and greatest victims. A simple comparison of Judeo-Christians with Muslims and a common sense desire to protect Western civilization from the destructive Islam require strong resistance to the spread of this dark and dangerous religion. This harsh reality must be taken into account when establishing public policy regarding emigration from Muslim countries and the construction of mosques in the United States. Let us hope that the civilized West and North America will awaken before blind naivety about the nature of Islam destroys what remains of our Judeo-Christian culture and the peace of our home

At what age can you get married according to Islam?

According to the Jafari Personal Status Law, a man only needs to be 15 years old to get married. The future wife must be at least nine years old. An amendment to the code is the statement that with the consent of the father or grandfather, a girl can get married earlier.

History confirms this view of early marriages in Muslim countries. According to the Koran, one of the wives of the Prophet Muhammad, Aisha, was six years old at the time of their marriage. But the girl truly became a wife (that is, she experienced intimate intimacy with her husband) at the age of nine.

Today the age of marriage in Muslim countries is eighteen years old. Under special circumstances, with the approval of guardians, you can get married at the age of fifteen.

I can't bear to get married

The first parliamentary elections since the withdrawal of American troops were held in Iraq. Although their official results will be summed up only at the end of May, it is already possible to say with a high degree of probability that the winner will be the current Shiite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. Meanwhile, one of his cabinet's election promises was the adoption of the Jafari Personal Status Law, which would allow marriage of little girls.

Shocking reports about the morals of the Islamic world appear in the press with enviable regularity. So, a couple of years ago, Western society was shocked by the news that in Egypt, where Islamists then came to power, they intended to legalize necrophilia. They say that within 24 hours after a woman’s death, her husband has the right to have sexual intercourse with her. This news was soon refuted, but, as is usually the case, the revelation attracted much less attention than the “duck” itself.

Basically, the appearance and spread of such messages is a consequence of Islamophobia and the lack of even basic understanding of the fundamentals of Muslim culture. But it happens that initiatives that seem completely wild actually become laws in Islamic countries.

This is the case of Iraq's Jafari Personal Status Law. This legal provision legalizes marital rape (a husband has the right to have sex with his wife, even if she does not want it), prohibits women from leaving the house without the permission of their spouse, and in the event of divorce, all children over two years of age automatically become the guardianship of the father. But the most egregious provisions of the Jafari Law concern changes in the age of consent.

Currently, the age of marriage in Iraq is 18 years. With the permission of guardians, you can get married at 15. This order has existed in the country since 1959. However, according to the “Jafari Law”, the age of marriage for boys should be reduced to 15 years, and for girls, or rather girls, to nine! Moreover, girls under nine years of age can also get married, but only with the permission of their father or grandfather.

Relatives celebrate the wedding of minors, Iraq

Photo: Bakr al-Azzawi / Reuters

The government approved the Jafari Law back in February. Now it remains to be ratified by parliament.

Recently, the bill has been criticized both in Iraq and abroad. For example, when this legal norm had not yet been submitted to parliament, the human rights organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) made a corresponding statement. “Passing the Jafari Law would be a disastrous and discriminatory move for Iraqi women and girls,” said Joe Stork, deputy head of HRW's Middle East desk. “This personal status law will only deepen inequality in Iraq at a time when the government claims to support equal rights for all.”

The authors of the bill themselves are not at all embarrassed by criticism. “There are people who don’t like this law, but we don’t care about them because they are opponents of Islam,” said a spokesman for the justice minister. And the liberal press received a rebuke from Ali al-Mussawi, an adviser to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. “Some media make it look like Iraq is slipping back into the past. But this is not true. In the West, people are talking about gay marriage. This is something we will never discuss and it is against our nature and religion,” he said.

The talk that marriage with young girls is not contrary to Islam is not without meaning. One of the Prophet’s wives, Aisha, was betrothed to him when she was only six years old, and married three years later, that is, having just reached the age of nine prescribed in the “Jafari Law”. True, it is not said anywhere that marriage automatically meant the beginning of sexual activity.

Prophet Muhammad and his wife Aisha

Image:

The reference to Aisha’s age is still of decisive importance for the fate of many girls in Muslim countries. In particular, it directly concerns minor citizens of Saudi Arabia. In the laws of this country, in principle, there is no concept of “marriageable age”. When deciding on the admissibility of a particular union, local residents rely on the judgments of theologians, who, in turn, believe that girls can get married from the age of nine. Not surprisingly, by the time they reach adulthood, approximately 16 percent of Saudi girls are already married.

Sometimes unequal marriages in Saudi Arabia take on the characteristics of a tragicomedy. For example, a story caused a lot of noise, the main character of which was a 90-year-old man who married a 15-year-old girl. For consent to this marriage, he paid the bride’s parents 65 thousand rials (just over 17 thousand dollars). However, the social unit never formed: immediately after the wedding, the newlywed locked herself in her room for several days. As a result, the disappointed husband filed a lawsuit against the girl’s family, considering himself deceived.

Things are even sadder in Afghanistan. Almost every fifth girl there is married off before she turns 15. In 2009, the country passed a law protecting women's rights. This legal norm also prohibited forced and early marriages. But this requirement is not followed by everyone and not everywhere. According to a UN report, prosecutions of cases of violence against women increased by only two percent in a year. It is obvious that against the backdrop of such problems as the possibility of revenge for the Taliban after the withdrawal of American troops or the fight against colossal drug trafficking, few people remember the girls married against their will.

Meanwhile, many Afghans consider it acceptable to improve their financial situation at the expense of the bride price due for a child bride. This is the case of a resident of Jawzjan province named Ramadan. Being a drug addict and in debt, he agreed to marry his seven-year-old daughter to a 35-year-old man for two thousand dollars. Life in the new house was not easy for the girl - during the year of her married life, she ran away to her parents several times, hoping to hide there from the beatings of her husband and mother-in-law. However, each time her husband took her back. It is unknown how this story would have ended if the girl’s mother had not turned to human rights activists. As a result, Ramadan, his son-in-law and the mullah who performed the wedding ceremony were arrested.

The fight to raise the marriageable age is taking place in Yemen with particular drama. The issue of child marriage in this country has gained global attention following a heartbreaking incident last year. Then an eight-year-old girl died on her wedding night after being injured during sex with her 40-year-old husband. The outrage of human rights organizations was so great that even the head of European diplomacy, Catherine Ashton, had to speak out on this matter.

But you shouldn’t think that early marriage is a vice unique to Muslim countries. According to UNICEF, 40 percent of such weddings take place in India. True, there the age difference between the bride and groom is usually not very large. And they begin to live together when they reach 15-16 years of age. But the union itself is concluded by their parents, often when the future spouses are still just children. This practice is prohibited by law. But even the prospect of spending two years in prison and being fined a decent amount by Indian standards does not frighten the organizers of such weddings too much.

Returning to Iraq: supporters of the Jafari Law argue that it only legalizes what is already commonplace. In 2011, almost 25 percent of girls got married before the age of 18 (compared to only 15 percent in 1997). If the law is adopted, its authors say, it will benefit the girls themselves, since their relationships with their husbands will be supported by a legal framework. And if so, then it will be easier for them to defend their rights. But, as the case of a Yemeni girl who died in her marital bed shows, sometimes the consequences of marriage are such that there is no one left to fight for their rights.

Features of early marriages in Muslim countries

The union, cemented by the traditions of Islam, is very strong. Strength is explained, first of all, by adherence to the system of values and traditions dictated by the Koran. Early marriages in Muslim countries are no exception.

The second reason for the strength of the marital union is the support of the family by public institutions. Divorce in Muslim countries is more troublesome than in European and American ones. In addition, future spouses get used to the roles of husband and wife from childhood. Surrounded by numerous relatives, the couple can count on protection, emotional and material support at any time, which significantly strengthens the marital union.

Early marriages

Reasons for early marriages

As a rule, such an act comes as a not entirely pleasant surprise for parents, and they want to know the reasons that prompted their child to take on such a huge responsibility at a time when he is not yet psychologically ready for such a serious step. Experts believe that couples are ready to get married early:

Between them there is strong love and a desire to be with a partner 24 hours a day. The guys are not ready to perceive reality, so at this stage they are not concerned about issues of an unsettled life or lack of funds.
Those who want to legitimize their sex life, because they live in families where intimate relationships are still a taboo topic, and parents remain extremely strict in their upbringing. The guy and the girl decide to satisfy their natural curiosity in marriage and formalize their relationship in a legislative manner.
Expecting a child. Pregnancy is the most common reason for early marriage, and a man does not always agree to this step voluntarily. Most often, the girl’s parents force him to do so, threatening to go to the police.
Those who want to get rid of excessive parental control and guardianship. And also vice versa, from the fact that at home young people face domestic violence and neglect.
Those who do this out of spite to their former lovers, in order to finally part with the past and psychologically accept a new relationship.

Pros and cons of early marriage

Most often, early marriages break up after a couple of years. Often young people live like cats and dogs, but do not get divorced for fear of disappointing their parents again. And there are couples who have completely free relationships. But among the huge number of unsuccessful marriages, you can also find those that continue happily. Moreover, young people eventually get on their feet, have children and spend their whole lives together.

Such statistics do not allow us to say that early marriages have only disadvantages; there are also advantages that cannot be kept silent about. So, let's first look at the negative aspects of starting a family early, which include:

Changes caused by the birth of a child, when you have to forget about yourself and your desires. Teenagers are rarely ready to change their lives in this way, so sooner or later the couple begins to quarrel, conflict, hidden and obvious grievances appear, leading to divorce.
Lack of understanding of the complexities that marriage poses. We are talking about routine, difficulties with everyday life, the need to provide money for the family and take care of children, the desire to go out and have fun instead of going home and taking care of responsibilities.
Incompatibility of sexual desires. Young wives do not experience the same desire as their husbands, so a conflict of interests arises when girls want romance, tender words and walks under the moon, and their husbands want the opposite. In addition, the young wife, due to inexperience, simply cannot satisfy the interests of her chosen one, so in 99% of 100% the man cheats on his significant other. But the worst thing is that after such a marriage, the woman loses faith in the opposite sex, and the husband begins to consider betrayal as a normal phenomenon.

But still, early marriages are not without their advantages , among which the following can be noted:

Stormy feelings force young people to forgive each other, not notice shortcomings and learn to show tenderness and care, suppressing their own selfishness.
A wedding at a young age brings a girl so much happiness that she won’t have at any other age. She feels like a queen, and this feeling helps fight youthful complexes.
At a young age, a sense of maximalism makes it easier to endure difficulties, lack of money, and stress.
A young family can get rid of parental supervision much faster and begin to plan their lives independently, without reporting to anyone.
The couple matures faster psychologically, becomes independent and responsible, not only for themselves, but also for their significant other, and even more so for the child.
Young people build the financial foundation of their marriage together, so the question of someone getting married for money does not cloud their future together.
At a young age, there are no habits that have been established over the years, so the grinding process goes faster, as well as adaptation to each other. In adulthood, it is much more difficult to rebuild, both physically and psychologically.
It is easier for young people to form their own family traditions and customs. Those who are older, as a rule, try to accustom their significant other to the principles that were accepted in their families.
It is easier for a young man who is married to look for a job than for someone who is not in a serious relationship, since employers consider him more responsible and serious. But with girls it's the other way around. A young wife cannot devote herself to work the way an unmarried employee can. In addition, there is a risk that she will go on maternity leave, so recruiters in 8 cases out of 10 refuse such applicants.
The health of young people is much better than that of 30-35 year olds getting married. That is why it is easier for them to endure all the hardships of life, including sleepless nights with a baby in their arms.

Statistics of early marriages and divorces in Russia

A larger number of Russian girls, according to statistics, legalize relationships at the age of 18-24 years, and boys - at 25-34 years. As for early official relationships, 5-6 years ago their number exceeded 1.215 million marriages. Moreover, there were significantly more underage wives in couples than husbands: 1698 girls and 1131 boys, respectively.

Over the past 2-3 years, these numbers have changed, and early marriages have decreased significantly. Nevertheless, this issue remains problematic both for Russia and for the whole world, because out of 6.7 marriages, 5 end in a breakdown, despite the fact that many couples already have small children.

The earliest marriages in the world

There is no state in the world where the official age of a girl allowing her to get married would exceed the age at which a man can get married. That is why there are countries where young people can enter into official marriage at the age of 9-18. Of course, legislative norms may provide for some exceptions, but there are states in which it is not the law that is strong, but national traditions. Therefore, they easily learned to bypass official norms.

12-year-old girls can become wives in Paraguay, Spain, Ecuador and Canada. In some individual states of North America, a girl must be 13 years old to get married, and citizens of Colombia, Argentina, Peru and Italy can get married at 14 years old. But it should be noted that in developed countries, young ladies rarely use this right, wanting to study and develop in their careers.

But this is not the limit! The situation is much more serious in the countries of the Islamic world. For example, in almost all settlements in Afghanistan and Nepal, only early marriages are concluded, and at the age of 14-15, boys and girls can officially seal their union.

But in India there are villages where the youngest brides were only 10 years old, but since the law does not allow such marriages to be officially concluded, weddings are held at night, in secret from representatives of the city administration and the police.

Choosing a life partner for Muslims

Of course, marriage should be built on mutual love and respect. Many true believers, like citizens of other countries, can choose their soul mate. However, such a choice is practically impossible in early marriages in Muslim countries. The customs of such unions dictate the consent of the older men in the family - father, grandfather, and sometimes even older brother.

It happens that a child bride becomes payment for the debts of relatives. There have been cases when a wife moved into her husband's house, taking her favorite toys - dolls, teddy bears, doll houses, etc. Many girls do not fully understand the importance and hopelessness of the event. They are happy about the holiday and new beautiful outfits. The subsequent reality is shocking and frightening.

Muslim wedding ceremony

Nikah is a marriage between a devout man and a woman. The history of the ceremony shows that the future husband, taking a girl as his wife, had to announce this in the main square of the city.

As evidenced by the description of early marriages in Muslim countries, despite ancient history, nikah has no legal force. However, this is a very solemn and beautiful ceremony, consisting of several stages:

Collusion.
Matchmaking (hitbs).
Transfer of the bride to the groom's house (zifaf).
Actually weddings (ursa, valima).
Actual entry into marital relations (first wedding night, nikah).

In order for a marriage to be recognized by society (which is very important for the faithful), certain conditions must be met:

The spouse is an adult Muslim.
The bride and groom must agree to get married.
Marriage between blood relatives is prohibited.
The girl must be accompanied at the ceremony by at least one male relative.
For the bride, the groom pays the bride price (mahr).
Men can marry Muslim women, as well as Christian and Jewish women. In the case of an interethnic marriage, the children born are raised according to the Koran.

My Dagestan

Iraq legalizes marriages with nine-year-old girls

07.05.14

The first parliamentary elections since the withdrawal of American troops were held in Iraq. Although their official results will be summed up only at the end of May, it is already possible to say with a high degree of probability that the winner will be the current Shiite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. Meanwhile, one of his cabinet’s election promises was the adoption of the “Jafari Personal Status Law,” which would allow marrying little girls, writes Lenta.ru.

Shocking reports about the morals of the Islamic world appear in the press with enviable regularity. Thus, a couple of years ago, Western society was shocked by the news that in Egypt, where Islamists then came to power, they intended to legalize necrophilia. They say that within 24 hours after a woman’s death, her husband has the right to have sexual intercourse with her. This news was soon refuted, but, as is usually the case, the revelation attracted much less attention than the “duck” itself.

Basically, the appearance and spread of such messages is a consequence of Islamophobia and the lack of even basic understanding of the fundamentals of Muslim culture. But it also happens that initiatives that seem completely wild actually become laws in Islamic countries.

This is the case of Iraq's Jafari Personal Status Law. This legal norm legalizes marital rape (a husband has the right to have sex with his wife, even if she does not want it), prohibits women from leaving the house without the permission of their spouses, and in case of divorce, all children over two years old automatically become the guardianship of the father. But the most egregious provisions of the Jafari Law concern changes in the age of consent.

Currently, the age of marriage in Iraq is 18 years. With the permission of guardians, you can get married at 15. This order has existed in the country since 1959. However, according to the “Jafari Law”, the age of marriage for boys should be reduced to 15 years, and for girls, or rather girls, to nine! Moreover: girls under nine years of age can also get married, but only with the permission of their father or grandfather.

The government approved the Jafari Law back in February. Now it remains to be ratified by parliament.

Conversations that marriage with young girls is not contrary to Islam are not without meaning. One of the Prophet’s wives, Aisha, was betrothed to him when she was only six years old, and married three years later. That is, just after reaching the nine-year age prescribed in the “Jafari Law”. True, it is not said anywhere that marriage automatically meant the beginning of sexual activity.

The reference to Aisha’s age is still of decisive importance for the fate of many girls in Muslim countries. In particular, it directly concerns minor citizens of Saudi Arabia. In the laws of this country, in principle, there is no concept of “marriageable age”. When making decisions about the admissibility of a particular union, local residents rely on the judgments of theologians, who, in turn, believe that girls can get married from the age of nine. Not surprisingly, by the time they reach adulthood, approximately 16 percent of Saudi girls are already married.

Things are even sadder in Afghanistan. Almost every fifth girl here is married off before she turns 15. In 2009, a law protecting women's rights was passed there. This legal norm also prohibited forced and early marriages. But this requirement is not followed by everyone and not everywhere. According to a UN report, prosecutions of cases of violence against women increased by only two percent in a year. It is obvious that against the backdrop of such problems as the possibility of revenge for the Taliban after the withdrawal of American troops or the fight against colossal drug trafficking, few people remember the girls married against their will.

Meanwhile, many Afghans consider it acceptable to improve their financial situation at the expense of the bride price due for a child bride. This is the case of a resident of Jowzjan province named Ramadan. Being a drug addict and in debt, he agreed to marry his seven-year-old daughter to a 35-year-old man for two thousand dollars. Life in the new house was not easy for the girl - during the year of her married life, she ran away to her parents several times, hoping to hide there from the beatings of her husband and mother-in-law. However, each time her husband took her back. It is unknown how this story would have ended if the girl’s mother had not turned to human rights activists. As a result, Ramadan, his son-in-law and the mullah who performed the wedding ceremony were arrested.

The fight to raise the marriageable age is taking place in Yemen with particular drama. The issue of child marriage in this country has gained global attention following a heartbreaking incident last year. Then an 8-year-old girl died on her wedding night after being injured during sex with her 40-year-old husband. The outrage of human rights organizations was so great that even the head of European diplomacy, Catherine Ashton, had to speak out on this matter.

The phenomenon of marital polygamy

As stated in the Koran, a Muslim can have up to four wives. The conditions for entering into a polygamous marriage are as follows:

The first (main) wife must be aware of her husband’s intentions to replenish the family.
Subsequent wives should not sow discord in the family.
All spouses have the right to be treated equally.

A man is also free to choose a second wife if:

There are no children in the first marriage.
The first wife is often sick, and care is required for her, her children and her husband.

Polygamy, according to Muslims, is a somewhat beneficial phenomenon. It makes it possible to raise children in a legal marriage and complete family.

In the name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful

Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds, peace and blessings of Allah be upon our prophet Muhammad, members of his family and all his companions!

And then:

You should know and understand that the development of girls varies greatly depending on time and place. If at 9-10 years old in hot countries girls are already able to give birth, then in cold countries they seem immature at 15 or more. And among the Arabs, early marriages were the norm, especially in those days, and in our time, early marriages exist in Yemen and other Arab countries.

And then, one should understand one simple thing: if the marriage of the prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) to 'Aisha would have been something out of the ordinary in the tradition of that time or something immoral among the Arabs, then he would have been reproached for this all the pagans and polytheists who were at enmity with him at the beginning of the prophetic call. After all, every now and then they expected any offense from him, even the most insignificant, in order to reproach him thereby. But they said nothing but lies and slander about him. And for this reason, we cannot find any mention of such accusations by any of the pagans of that time, since this is only an accusation of some contemporaries, ranting about pedophilia in Islam, then they themselves are probably complete perverts, having intercourse not only with children, but also with equals of the same sex and even with animals!

But here are clear arguments that girls of that time grew up quickly, and that at the age of 9-10 they were called women: It is reported that 'Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) said: “If a girl has reached nine years old, then she is already a woman.”

. at-Tirmidhi 2/409.

Imam al-Shafi'i, who lived about 1300 years ago, said: “I saw girls of nine years old in Yemen who were already menstruating.”

. See al-Siyar 10/91.

He also said: “I saw a grandmother in San'e who was 21 years old. She got her period at 9, and at 10 she gave birth, and so did her daughter, at 9 she got her period, and at 10 she gave birth.”

. al-Baihaqi in “al-Kubra” 1/319.

And in general, few people probably know that the famous associate Amr ibn al-As was only ten years older than his son Abdullah.

In a word, if a girl has reached puberty, then she is allowed to get married.

And Allah Almighty said, addressing the guardians of orphans: “Test orphans until they reach marriageable age. If you find mature intelligence in them, then give them their property."

(an-Nisa 4:6).

Mujahid regarding the words: "until they reach marriageable age"

said:
“I.e.
puberty . Abu Malik, Sa'id ibn Jubair and al-Suddi also spoke. See “Tafsir Ibn Abi Hatim” 4800.

And then, you also need to take into account the important point that the permissibility of marriage at an early age does not indicate that this should be done. Just like the marriage of an old man to a young girl. If Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) married his daughter at an early age to the prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), who was much older, then it was the prophet of the Most High (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), and whoever people didn’t want to be the wife of the prophet or marry their daughter to him?! I am sure that many of those who are trying to discredit Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) with this question would probably even marry their daughters in infancy to some oligarchs.

Again, I repeat, the permissibility of this does not indicate desirability! Moreover, on the contrary, the desirability is to give daughters off as equal in age, or so that there is not a very large difference in years between the spouses.

Buraidah said: “Once Abu Bakr and 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with them) wooed Fatima, the daughter of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), but he told them: “She is small.”

.
And he married her to Ali .
an-Nasai 3221. The hadith is authentic. See “Sahih Sunan an-Nasai” 3221, “Zahira al-'ukba” 27/58. Imam an-Nasai named the chapter in which he cited this hadith as follows: “Getting a woman married to her equal in age.”

Imam al-Sindi said in relation to this hadith: “It indicates that the same age or similar age should be taken into account, since this is closer to love and mutual understanding. Yes, it may be that the same age can be omitted for the sake of something better than this, such as marrying 'Aisha the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him).”

. See “Hashiya 'ala al-Nasai” 3/370.

Abu Mujashi' al-Azdi said: “Once a young girl was brought to 'Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) who was married to an old man, whom she then killed, and 'Umar said: “O people! Let women marry equal in age, just as men marry equal in age!”

Sa'id ibn al-Mansur in “al-Sunan” 1/210.

Sheikh al-Albani said: “You should not marry a young woman, even if she has reached adulthood, to someone who is much older than her. On the contrary, the same age should be taken into account!”

After this, the Sheikh brought forward the mentioned hadith from Buraidah. See “at-Ta'liqat ar-radiya 'ala ar-Rauda an-nadiyya” 2/151.

Shaykh Muhammad ibn 'Ali ibn Adam al-Atyubi said: “The same age or close to each other should be taken into account if the matchmaker does not have a clear advantage. And if he has an advantage, then there is nothing wrong with the difference in age, which is why the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) married 'Aisha. And if someone says that Abu Bakr and 'Umar also had a clear advantage, then why was this not taken into account? Then the answer is: No one can deny the dignity and honor of these two companions, may Allah be pleased with them. However, Ali also had a dignity that surpassed them precisely in relation to Fatima, and this is their identical age, which is the reason for mutual understanding and love in marriage. For this reason, the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) preferred Ali over them.”

. See Sharh Sunan an-Nasai 27/58.

And in conclusion, praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds!

"Salaf - Forum"

The role of the husband in a Muslim marriage

The Koran preaches equality between men and women. However, historically it has happened that the leading role in the family goes to the spouse. His social position depends on how a man copes with the role of husband and father.

The spouse must ensure the material well-being of his family, be the protector of his own home, and fulfill the duties of a father. The best gift a parent can give to children is an excellent education and instilling moral principles in the younger generation. It also depends on the father’s decision at what age his daughters will marry.

How Islam interprets the duties of wives

Early marriages in Muslim countries require complete obedience to the head of the family. A true believer must be a good wife, mother and successfully run a household. The woman is also entrusted with the religious and moral education of children.

Today, many Muslim women are receiving education. However, this does not at all deny their modesty and restraint in communicating with others. When in society, a woman should dress in such a way as not to tempt other men. A Muslim woman's head should be covered with a scarf or veil, her arms and legs should be completely covered (up to the wrists and ankles, respectively). Sometimes it is necessary to cover the face with a veil or veil.

The customs of early marriage in Muslim countries regarding wives are similar to those in Europe. Becoming a mother, a woman is burdened with great responsibility. With the birth of a child, she is obliged to provide him with the following rights:

Right to life and equality in the family.
Right to legitimacy - a child must bear the name of his father.
The right to excellent upbringing and education.
Right to safety.

Negative results of unions with minors

The adverse consequences of early marriage in Muslim countries are substantiated by data from the European Bureau of the World Health Organization. According to an analysis of surveyed young women who were married before the age of eighteen, negative results relate to the physical and mental health of young girls. They are deprived of childhood, and many of them are subject to psychological and sexual violence. Young wives are more likely to suffer from sexually transmitted diseases.

In addition, the body of an immature girl is not adapted to childbearing. There were cases when a wife died from internal bleeding or during the birth of a child.

According to WHO, early marriages in Muslim countries are a violation of human rights and a threat to the health and safety of adolescents.

Divorce proceedings

Muslim divorce is almost always initiated by the husband. Sometimes a simple verbal statement repeated three times in public is sufficient. However, legal justification for divorce requires both a lot of money and compelling reasons. The conditions for divorce among Muslims may be the following:

Violation of the duties of spouses.
Apostasy of a wife or husband.
Cheating on one of the spouses.
Physical and mental illnesses.

You can also terminate your nikah under the following circumstances:

Fear of disagreements between spouses in the future.
Infringement of the rights of one of the spouses.
The couple's disgust or dislike for each other.
Adultery by one of the spouses.

However, in the case of early marriages in Muslim countries, divorce proceedings are practically impossible. A minor wife has no rights in her husband's house due to her minority. The husband does not want to part with the toy until compelling circumstances force him to agree to divorce.

The wedding night

Just like organizing and conducting wedding rituals, the first wedding night also has its own traditions and customs:

Before enjoying each other’s closeness, the newlyweds must read two prayers in which they ask Allah to give them a happy and long family life;
further, revealing the wife’s face, the newly-made husband places his palm on her forehead and asks the Almighty to protect his wife and their offspring from evil, and for the wife to be submissive and God-fearing;
before the first wedding night, some things of the bride and her dowry must be brought to the newlyweds’ house;
if the husband and wife have not previously known each other, then intimacy on the first night is not necessary. First they must get to know each other better and get used to each other;
a young husband should be attentive and unhurried towards his wife’s feelings. And the young woman, in turn, should not be cold;
If a woman gets married for the first time, she must be a virgin. It is interesting that if a husband doubts the integrity of his newly-made wife, but does not have strong evidence, making claims or humiliating her is prohibited and is considered a sin.

In Islam, preparation for sex is very important. Beautiful attire, fruit, foreplay are a must. It is strictly forbidden to copulate like birds.

Modern Muslim society and early marriages

Nikah is a simple ritual that has no legal force. Today, after observing a beautiful tradition, the newlyweds must register their relationship in the registry office. A marriage certificate, wedding rings and a wedding waltz are a solemn tradition of officially recognizing marriage. Thus, the marriage of modern believers is divided into two stages: traditional and official.

As photographs from early marriages in Muslim countries testify, such a celebration usually pleases the child bride, who perceives the event as a wonderful fairy tale. Her fate is predetermined, and sometimes not very joyful. But now she is happy because she is the main character at the holiday.