Marriage age debate: A free-for-all

Also published in Daily Trust

The war of words that erupted among Nigerians over marriageable age is hardly understandable because the vast majority of the “warring parties” don’t seem to fully understand the bone of contention between them in the first place. And even though some few commentators have observed how the issue was right from the beginning misrepresented hence widely misunderstood, arguments and counter arguments of various quality levels continue to flow in the social media, blogs, websites and even newspapers.

Anyway, assuming that the Senate’s controversial action actually endorsed marrying off girls at a young age as widely assumed, the ensuing debate has exposed the hidden motives of some few but very vocal elements among some largely non-Muslim bigots, who launch obnoxious campaign of calumny against Islam, and also some confused and apologetic Muslims, both of whom apparently consider owning a computer or a smart phone with Internet connection is all they need to publicly comment on everything under the sun.

On one hand for instance, while some of such bigots, particularly who enjoy some socio-political prominence seek to exhaust out their accumulated hatred against Islam in subtle ways for obvious reasons, many desperately attention-seeking nonentities pour out their anti-Islamic sentiments blatantly. Incidentally, I am nonetheless not surprised at all, for I am convinced that, no matter what they say, write or convey in whatever means against Islam, what remains in their hearts unexpressed is by far worse than what they express anyway.

On the other hand, some confused so-called liberal Muslims, who are not only clueless about the essence of the religion they claim to profess but are also too brainwashed to realize how much they have been brainwashed, joined the campaign consciously or unconsciously. They sound pathetically desperate in their futile attempts to reinterpret some Islamic provisions or precedents to correspond with their preconceptions and/or the prejudice of their non-Muslim collaborators, as though they are ashamed of belonging to the religion.

They are apparently under the illusion that, being Muslims and able to communicate in English language and/or being experts in any Boko subject, automatically qualify them to comment, argue and counter argue on any religious issue no matter how it obviously requires advanced Islamic knowledge to address.

Ironically however, they recognize the imperative of referring to certified experts and appropriate professionals in all other issues e.g. referring legal matters to legal professionals and health related issues to medical doctors only. By the way, such so-called Muslim liberals are more harmful to Islam than their non-Muslim collaborators, who never claim to belong to Islam in the first place hence their motives are relatively easily discerned as opposed to their Muslim partners.

Having said these however, I never support the status-quo with respect to the rampant abuse to which women and young girls in particular are subjected to under various misunderstood Islamic precedents and provisions, as it’s the case in the phenomenon of early marriage among many Muslim communities in the country. Obviously nobody can deny the urgency of the need to address the negative implications of such practice.

After all, the issue of whether or not to determine the minimum marriage age for girls has for quite a while been deliberated upon in many Muslim countries including Saudi Arabia, where highly qualified Islamic jurists, sociologists, legal professionals and other experts have been brainstorming with a view to arriving at a harmonized stand in order to address the issue and its implications as comprehensively as possible.

As a matter of fact, in Egypt there is already a law prescribing 18 years of age as the minimum marriageable age for girls, which was apparently the reason why Senator Ahmed Yerima’s controversial marriage to an Egyptian teenager couldn’t be officially registered in Egyptian marriage registry.

The point I want make here is, the issue is basically intellectual in nature, and there is need for the participation of well-educated Muslim clerics of various specializations, sociologists and other stakeholders to find a common ground that would address the problems associated with early marriage in our societies, of course without prejudice to the relevant religious teachings.

This is because jurisprudentially speaking, permissibility as in early marriage for instance does not necessarily mean it’s obligatory i.e. Waajib, as many people among both the proponents and the opponents apparently assume or express in their comments and remarks. Moreover, permissible, which is technically referred to as “Al-mubaah” in Islamic jurisprudence, can be regulated by government if need be, as maintained in the principles of “Usoolul-fiqh”.

Likewise, in addition to the basic religious conditions guiding the process of marrying and marrying off girls in Islam, parents and guardians are allowed, in fact, are enjoined to consider whatever necessary in order to ensure that marrying off their daughters will not in any way jeopardize their (i.e. daughters)physical and mental wellbeing as well as their intellectual potential.

This necessarily entails ensuring that, the marriage does not jeopardize their daughters’ chances of realizing their potential and becoming not only good mothers but also productive members in the society at large, of course depending on their potential and capabilities as individuals.

In any case, the best, if not the only, effective way to address this phenomenon is through sustained public enlightenment campaign by particularly religious clerics and other experts with active public participation of course. After all, going by Nigeria’s peculiar circumstances, even if a regulatory law is passed in this regard, it will still remain mere ink on paper due to the lack of effective enforcement mechanisms.