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Friday's Round up of the top stories from the past 24hours...
Friday's Round up of the top stories from the past 24hours...
By Rafiu Oriyomi (1 vote, average 5.00 out of 5)
Islam Correspondent - Report
Early Marriage Divides Nigeria Muslims
The Senate had earlier, by a two-thirds majority, voted to delete the controversial subsection 4 (b)
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LAGOS – A Senate failure to delete a clause on the Nigerians' “full age” has divided Muslim intellectuals in the West African country, with some criticizing it as an endorsement of child marriage and others saying that deleting it could criminalize Islamic marriages to under 18 girls.
“Extreme poverty in the (Muslim) North translates into extreme vulnerability to the effects of climate change, food security and so much more,” Maryam Uwais, a prominent Muslim female lawyer and activist, told OnIslam.net.
“Incidentally, over half of the women in the North are married off by the age of 16 and commence childbirth within the first year of marriage. Also, of the 16 million births by girls below the age of 18, 9 out of 10 of them are married.”
How Islam Views Early Marriages
Marriage in Islam
Specifying the age of Marriage
Parents Forcing children to Marry
The debate on marriage age started when the Senate discussed the age, in this case 18, within which a Nigerian could renounce citizenship.
The section then defined age 18 as “full age” but made an exception in (4) (b) by saying “every married woman shall be deemed to be of full age” to accommodate Nigerian ladies who married below age 18 and may want to renounce their Nigerian citizenship.
The Senate had earlier, by a two-thirds majority, voted to delete the controversial subsection 4 (b).
Yet, it has rescinded the decision later in another vote following protests by some Muslim lawmakers that deleting it could criminalize some marriages to under 18 girls in the Muslim North and deny such married women the right to renounce their citizenship like their fellow country people.
Muslims North and South of the country have also asked lawmakers to retain the clause because Islam only recognizes puberty – and not necessarily age 18 – as age of consent.
Leading efforts by Muslim lawmakers, Senator Ahmed Sani Yerima added that the constitution in Item 61, under Part 1 of the 2nd Schedule of the Constitution, bars the National Assembly from legislating on any matter that concerns Islamic and customary matters, forcing the senate to have a second voting on the matter.
At that voting, those rooting for its deletion failed to garner the two-thirds majority, necessitating the retention of the clause that some claim encourages child marriage.
Islamic Laws
Supporting the idea, some Muslim scholars stressed that early marriage has its benefits on maintaining the ethics of the society.
“As much as we have over thrashed the poverty related, social and health complications of northern Muslim practices, have we ever considered the comparative advantages of the early marriage practiced as against the fornication that happens in parts of Nigeria where marriage is delayed?” Dr Peregrino Brimah, a Muslim scholar, told OnIslam.net.
“When last did we look at the HIV and STD distribution map of Nigeria? Abortion-murder? Or the domestic violence map of Nigeria? The fertility rate distribution? The frigidity rate? Even cancer rate? Do we think a discussion of such a prevalent cultural event that affects millions is as simple as some high blood pressure and misconstrued activism?”
Disu Kamor, head of the Muslim Public Affairs Centre (MPAC), disagreed, noting that the society should regulate the age of consent and not just base it on when a child attains puberty.
“The society should reject the notion that a teenage girl is simply fit for marriage only because she is biologically able to bear children,” Kamor said.
“Using the societal problem of prostitution as an excuse for marrying off young children is all about fixing the mirror, not fixing the reflection Nigerians see in the mirror.”
Nigeria, one of the world's most religiously committed nations, is divided between a Muslim north and a Christian south.
Muslims and Christians, who constitute 55 and 40 percent of Nigeria's 140 million population respectively, have lived in peace for the most part.
Marriage in Islam is of utmost importance as it is upon the lawful union of a man and a woman that society grows strong and that moral is preserved.
In Islam, it is not permissible for the guardian to compel the one under his guardianship to marry someone she does not desire to marry.
Rather, it is necessary to seek her consent and permission
