Girls Marriage without Parents Consent against Shariah

I am a regular reader of yours magazine and highly impressed by its contents. But I was shocked to read in the June issue that an Indian court has sanctioned the marrying of a girl of age 15 without her parents’ consent!

Nowhere in the Qur’ān or any authentic Hadith, does it say that a girl can marry without her parents’ consent, that too within the age of 15. The Hadith in fact states that a minor girl should have a guardian (wali), for marriage and should not be forced, and her consent should be sought before marriage.

Moreover, if she is forced to marry at a very young age and realises that she has to live a life of torture or against the tenets of Islam then she has a right to render the marriage invalid.

Here the court gives a completely contradictory verdict that the girl needs not get the consent of her parents at the early age of 15!  Moreover it says that she can make the marriage void even it is her own choice, after she reaches 18 years of age. The worst part is it says the Mohammedan law says that it is allowed!

While it is true that the age of marriage can be before 18 and after 15, it is not true that she can just go and marry anyone she likes, without informing her parents. It will be clearly cheating if a girl or boy elopes without informing their parents. Is Islam being made fun of or are they trying to create more ‘liberal’ women among Muslims also?

Dr. Thahira Iqbal

Chennai (T.N)