Islam does not condone marriages between 41-year-olds and 11-year-olds, said Umno Youth chief Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki (above).

"The high incidence of child marriages in this country was highlighted by the recent controversial case of an 11-year-old married to a 41-year-old man.

"If this is the nature of child marriage, even Islam does not condone it.

"People always quote the Prophet Muhammad and Aisyah as an example but that is a highly exceptional case and even the actual age of Aisyah is debatable," Asyraf said during an interview with BFM this morning.

Aisyah, one of Prophet Muhammad's wives, is usually said to have been wed at the age of six or seven. However, some scholars have debated that she may have actually been either 17 or 19 when she wed the prophet.

Asyraf raised these points when asked if he agreed with a ban on child marriages.

Despite disagreeing with pre-teens being wed, the former deputy minister in the Prime Minister’s Department in charge of Islamic affairs said the matter of banning underage marriages was not so clear-cut.

This, he said, was because most underage marriages were between teenagers after the girl ended up pregnant out of wedlock.

"(This is the case) for both Muslims and non-Muslims (who wed when underage). So to cover shame, these couples are married off quickly.

"This is not right because the marriage is not entered into for the right reasons hence it contributes to early divorce and a spectrum of other social problems," he noted.

'Holistic manner'

Pressed further on whether child marriage should be banned outright, Asyraf said there must be a holistic discussion on the matter first.

"We can't just have a blanket 'yes' or 'no'. We need to bring all the stakeholders together and discuss this in a holistic manner

"There are religious, legal and social implications that need to be addressed," he said.

The recent marriage of the 41-year-old man to an 11-year-old girl in Kelantan had sparked an outcry among civil society organisations and spurring an ongoing debate on child marriages.

Putrajaya is pushing to ban child marriages and increasing the minimum age for marriage to 18.