We refer to a report by The Star newspaper on ‘Child marriages on the rise’ on Oct 6, 2013, which depicted a photo of a young Muslim girl adorned in her praying attire. We regret this form of stereotyping as the photo misled the public towards believing that child marriage is a serious issue in Islam.

Child marriages, on the other hand, are strongly correlated with poverty and level of education. It happens in any society where there is an imbalance of wealth distribution, and children as the weakest fragment amongst the society are normally the victims.

Wanita Isma supports measures to stop forced or early marriages that are potentially harmful to either very young brides or grooms (young adolescents), physically or socially. We condemn cases where girls were forced to marry much older men, and that they were treated as objects or commodities as families try to escape poverty.

However, a policy on imposing a minimum age for marriages, especially for Muslims as suggested by the Joint Action Group for Gender Equality (JAG) and Sisters in Islam (SIS), must come hand in hand with protecting the institution of marriage.

Both JAG and SIS proposed that the government review Section 8 of the Islamic Family Law (Federal Territories) Act which stated that the minimum legal age for Muslim boys to marry is 18, while for Muslim girls, at 16.

Any boy or girl below the legal age needs to obtain permission from the Syariah Court to marry. It was reported that 900 applications for such cases were approved in 2011, and a further 1,165 in 2012. This policy will include late adolescent or teenagers.

JAG and SIS stood by the deduction from the United Nations data that child marriages invariably led to social and health problems. However, there was no proof that the marriages approved by the Syariah Court among Muslim teenagers were directly related to the harmful effects of teenage pregnancies and babies dumping.

We should be more concerned about teenagers or children who have engaged in sexual relationships out of wedlock. Several studies have actually addressed this.

One study reported that 92 percent of respondents aged between 13 to 19 years old who were admitted to a government shelter home as they were pregnant, were unmarried 1.

A more recent study by Universiti Malaya comparing obstetric outcomes of teenage pregnancies and adult pregnancies concluded that “the long-held beliefs about the risks related to teenage pregnancy are not all justified. Early booking, adequate antenatal care and delivery by trained personnel should improve the obstetric and perinatal outcome in this age group 2”.

In this study, 65 percent of teenage mothers were married. Other studies in other parts of the world also concluded that with good antenatal care and spouses/family support, teenage pregnancies may not necessarily be associated with adverse effects 3-5.

A blanket policy on fixed ages, without assessing other factors such as maturity and family support, may instead increase cases of sex out of wedlock amongst those below the legal age. This may result in more teenage pregnancies, and this time around, without a registered and a responsible husband. We may also be dealing with more statutory rape cases of late teenagers when these can be avoided if two consenting parties are allowed to enter a lawful marriage.  

Maturity of a person varies and it does not subscribe to any specific age. Studies have proven that boys and girls attain maturity at a rate of 2.5 months earlier every decade as they hit puberty earlier since the 1700s. It is therefore more important to plan on how to address this fact rather than putting a rigid number to allow marriages.

Parenting courses nationwide

Wanita Isma is concerned on the need for both physical and psychosexual maturity to be developed at the same pace and therefore had conducted parenting courses nationwide since 2011 through its programmes Anak Soleh Anak Cemerlang (ASAC) and Ibu Bapa Soleh Anak Cemerlang (ISAC). In these courses, held in every state, both parents and children were exposed to issues and conflicts surrounding parent-teenager relationship.

Solutions were provided through thorough understanding of each other’s needs and expectations. Taboo subjects such as sexual education were also addressed. These courses engaged experts from both health professionals and religious authorities where they exposed the teenagers to what marriages and parenting are all about, in terms of health, responsibilities and rights of husband and wife, moral values and Islamic laws pertaining to it.

These helped prepare late teenagers in making informed decision on marriages and assist parents to allow space for their children should marriage not be an option.

The above strategies are more in accordance to the cultural and Syariah Law practised in Malaysia, that does not limit an age for marriage, a policy that uphold both the sanctity of marriage institution and conform to the different biological, physiological and psychosexual needs of different individuals.

The institution of marriage has been given tremendous importance in Islam.

The Holy Qur’an says: “One of His signs is that He created for you spouses of your own species, so that you might find comfort with them. And He put mutual love and affection in your hearts. Surely in this there are lessons for the the thinking people.” (30:21)

In another ayah, “Your wives are a garment for you, and you are a garment for them.” (Qur’an 2:187)

The Holy Quran also warns against sex out of wedlock: “Do not come nearer to adultery (or fornication) for it is a shameful deed and an evil, opening the road to other evils” (17:32)

The Prophet Muhammad (p.b.u.h) has advised: “O you young men, whoever is able to marry, should marry, for that will help him to lower his gaze, and guard his modesty” (Bukhari, Volume 7, Book 62, Number 4)

Fixing and increasing the minimum age for marriages by law, and in this case, an age of near adulthood, is not the answer to the problem of child marriages. Without giving due consideration for other factors namely the maturity of an individual, family supports and screening by the religious authorities, we may be pushing the wrong button in ensuring fairness to our youth.

1. PS Tan et al (2012). A study on pregnant adolescents residing in a government home: common characteristics and their views on the pregnancy. Malaysian Family Physcian. Vol 7, No 1.

2. S Sulaiman et al (2013). Obstetric and perinatal outcome in teenage pregnancies. SAJOG. September 2013, Vol. 19, No. 3

3. Sagili H et al (2012). Are teenage pregnancies at high risk? A comparison study in a developing country. Arch Gynecol Obstet; 285(3): 573-577.

4. Smith GC and Pell JP (2001). Teenage pregnancy and risk of adverse perinatal outcomes associated with first and second births: Population based retrospective cohort study. BMJ; 323 (7311): 476.

5. Lao TT, Ho LF (1998). Obstetric outcome of teenage pregnancies. Hum Reprod; 13(11): 3228-3232.

ASSOCIATE PROF DR RAFIDAH HANIM MOKHTAR is information chief of Wanita Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia (Isma).