Justifying Child Abuse In The Name Of Shariah

international | gender and sexuality | other press Tuesday May 12, 2009 17:56 by A. Faizur Rahman

Here you will find an exposition of the truth about what is mandated by the Quran and how this is twisted and ignored by the fundamentalists.

About a month ago the world media reported a shocking decision by a Saudi judge in which he refused to annul the marriage of an 8-year old girl to a 47-year old man. But to those who are already familiar with the so called Islamic laws of Saudi Arabia this ruling was merely the latest in the sequence of several such cases of human rights abuse in the name of the shariah. The question is: does the Islamic law really uphold child marriage?

A perusal of the Quran will reveal that marriage in Islam is a civil contract, meesaaq ( 4:21), and as such it can be finalized only between persons who are intellectually and physically mature enough to understand and fulfill the responsibilities of such a contract. This can be further understood from the verse; “And test the orphans until they reach the age of nikah (marriage), and if you find in them rushdh (maturity of intellect) release their property to them.”(4:6). It may be noted here that the Quran makes intellectual maturity (which always falls beyond the age of puberty) the basis to arrive at the age of marriage.

Here is the article. http://www.countercurrents.org/rahman110509.htm