24th July, 2013
PRESS RELEASE:
NO AGE FACTOR IN ISLAMIC MARRIAGE
The raging controversy on child marriage as it affects the review of the Nigerian constitution has been on the floor of the National Assembly for days. It has also occupied a prime of place in cyberspace as the Nigerian social media has fully gone to town over it. Feminists and other activists acting under the guise of protecting the Muslim female child have also exploited the scenario to lampoon Muslims and their institution of marriage.
The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) will like to put the records straight before too much damage is done to the polity. Islam is a complete way of life and its institutions (including that of marriage) are based on divinely ordained and well documented rules. Whoever wishes to legislate constructively or comment objectively on any aspect of Islam must therefore arm himself with the divine and documentary evidence. Anything short of this will earn lawmakers and commentators disrespect and contempt of Islamdom.
The conditions of marriage in Islam are four, namely, proposal and acceptance (al-Ijaab wa alqubuul), approval by both parents (ridaa alwaalidayn), payment of a dowry by the groom (al-mihr) and the presence of at least two male witnesses at the ceremony (shaahidayn 'aadilayn).
Age is therefore not part of the conditions which must be met before marriage can be solemnized in Islam. Where the bride is a 'minor', Islam prescribes protective solemnization of marriage without consummation. This means that the girl who is deemed to be of tender age is left untouched by the man until she attains puberty. Another major condition for child marriage is that the girl herself has the right to repudiate the marriage when she attains maturity if she does not like her 'spouse'.
MURIC believes that honourable and dignifying child marriage is better than child prostitution which is rampant in Nigerian cities and red light zones. In comparison, the globalization and promotion of homosexualism, lesbianism and same sex marriage is a direct challenge of the Creator's divine order. Whereas child marriage involves two proud and happy families, same sex marriage drives families of the two parties underground, embarrassed and emotionally devastated.
The notion of a secular Nigeria is an unmitigated farce. We challenge those behind this monumental deceit to produce the word 'secular' from the Nigerian constitution. How can you say Nigeria is a secular nation when the word 'secular' is not in our constitution? It does not exist. It is a mirage. The fact of the matter is that Nigeria is a multi-religious country. It is when some people want to rob Muslims of their Allah-given and fundamental rights that they label Nigeria 'secular'.
We therefore appeal to our lawmakers not to allow self-acclaimed constitutional ideologues to railroad them into tampering with the Allah-given and fundamental rights of Muslims. Nigeria's constitution must take into consideration the various ethnic and religious groups in order to create a symphony. Any constitution that does not take the people's cultures and religions into consideration is not only draconian but designed to fail from the onset.
For instance, the Nigerian matrimonial law which stipulates marriage to only one woman is designed to cater for Christians. Legislators must leave alone those clauses which cater for Muslim marriage otherwise they will be unfair to Muslims. We must all remember that Justice is the Soul of Peace.
MURIC appeals to Nigerians to learn the art of tolerance. We must learn to live with one another without attempting to bend any particular group towards a particular mindset. Let us learn to respect our differences. There can be no social cohesion unless we learn to accept Muslims as Muslims and respect their way of life. In the interest of peaceful coexistence, we advise Nigerians to resist further attempt to stereotype and stigmatize Muslims.
It is paradoxical that some feminists and activists now claim to be defending the rights of the Muslim girl-child. Where were they when millions of Muslim women were disallowed from registering for votes in Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Oshun, Ondo and other states in the South on account of their wearing of hijab during the 2007 and 2011 general elections? Why have they remained silent since the Lagos female pupil was given 43 lashes of the cane by a heartless school principal? Is that not child abuse? Why did they leave the Muslims alone to clamour for redress?
Parasites, pretenders and interlopers should stop poking their noses in the affairs of Muslims. Who wants his own daughter to suffer. These people should stop shedding crocodile tears. Nobody can love our daughters, our wives and our mothers more than us. Why are they crying more than the bereaved? We know that the rat should be careful when the cat starts performing ablution.
Professor Ishaq Akintola,
Director,
Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC),
0818-211-9714
--
*Professor Is-haq Akintola,*
*Department of Religions (Islamic Studies Unit)*
*Lagos State University,*
*P.O. Box 10211,*
*LASU Post Office,*
*HO 102 101,*
*Ojo, Lagos,*
*Nigeria.*
*Tel. 234-803-346-4974*
234-818-211-9714
Website: www.ishaqakintola.com
Blog: drishaqakintola.blogspot.com
Facebook: facebook.com/ishaqakintola
Twitter: ishaqakintola
I remain oppressed untill the hungry are fed, the naked clothed,
the sick healed and the homeless sheltered
Fantastic response. May Allah bless Dr, and MURIC, Muslim and the generality of the nation.
ReplyDeleteIt can not be better said. Nigerians are not serious a people simple. How on earth would people be fighting a worthless course when there are so many challenges be-deviling this country. The present crop of politicians/leaders have no answer to the multiple problems of this country and for that they kept creating diversionary issues to take our minds away from life important issues. Countries fight their leaders for bad governance we fight ourselves for flimsy excuses. They use divisive propaganda consistently because they found extraordinarily gullible. Now because of this simple issue many pure and sincere social interactions have been destroyed. May God help us to change early enough.
ReplyDeleteJazakallah Khairan
ReplyDeleteHi Prof.
ReplyDeleteHave you read "Maryam Uwais: Senator Yerima And Constitutional Review"? If you have, do you agree with her argument?
Rubbish
ReplyDeleteI am sure u r educated,pls be constructive.
Deletemay Allah continue to strengthen u with knowledge and wisdom to counter the disciples of the devil who are vehemently blinded by their passionate hatred against islam and our way of life, ameen
ReplyDeleteMAD MAN!
ReplyDeletethis is brilliant
ReplyDeleteI hate to comments on posting, but this is nonsense, we are talking about Nigeria constitution, the law of the land, if anyone wants to give his 2 month old child to marriage, good-luck, but it should not be the law of the land. There should be separation of religion and state
ReplyDeleteMAY GOD ALMIGHTY BLESS THE PROFESSOR
ReplyDeleteJust to corroborate your points, I think it necessary to go into the past for the purpose of understanding the present predicaments we Muslims used to find ourselves in a country we claimed to be 'secular'Having glanced through the world today, there have been injustice and seemingly inseparable loss caused to Muslims, torturing, attacks, humiliation, killing, sending to exile, persecution, disgrace, open and close assault e.t.c. are those visible upheaval and odds against us (Muslims) just like what is going on now on d issue of d so called under age marriage. We have also been made aliens and refugees in the land of our fathers, Muslims have been pleading for offences we do not commits. As if this is not enough, in this our great country (Nigeria) there was a time when it was a sin to be a Muslim. Anyone who dared proclaiming himself a Muslim stood the risk of losing his job, if employed, if he is unemployed would forever remain so; would hardly get admission into school if of school age without first denouncing his religion or adopting a baptismal name. History is pregnant full with cases of intimidation and victimization on the basis of religion only. The battle for survival and rights was not an easy one for the Islamic Community of Nigeria. Few as they were sadly fragmented, each little sector sophisticatedly referred to as denomination was fighting his own war independent of the others. The elder Muslims of then won the 1st battle by gaining the right to establish Muslim school which was not until late 1930s and early 1940s. This was followed by foundation of Muslim Students Society of Nigeria in 1954. If everybody reading this excerpt want to be honest enough, you will agree with me dat our CONSTITUTION is highly biased against Muslims without any serious protest from our side. For instance, d nomenclatures we are using in accademic arena (Dean, Provost, Rector, Chancellor etc) all have Christian background and if any Islamic organization establishes Schools, all these are what we used to accommodate. The issue of weekends on Saturdays & Sundays instead of Thursdays & Fridays is also christian makings. In d 80s, Babangida wanted to collect Interest free loan from OIC, there were strong opposition dat he wanted to Islamised d country but IMF from d West was not condemned. Sharia introduction for Muslims in 2000s faced d same challenges. So also is d Islamic Banking, usage of Hijab by Muslim sisters in schools and lots more. Why is it dat anytime Muslims wants to exercise their own religious rites without enforcing it on others is when we used to have a very strong oppositions like this?. There has never been a time in this country any REASONABLE Muslim would force a christian not to obtain interest based loan or a Catholic sister not to put on her attire etc based on his/her religious teachings. In conclusion, in the interest of peace and tranquility of this country, let us try to accommodate ourselves in any matter dat has to do with religious rites.
ReplyDeleteJAZAKALLAHU KHAIR
ReplyDeleteIslam is the only religion that profers solutions to the problems facing the youth today most especially the females when it comes to marriage issues. Most ladies find it difficult to get married after leaving the university; they are just like a food left unserved after cooking until about ten hours after. how would its taste be? Would it be the same as how it was when it was freshly cooked? The answer is NO! Not to talk of when the food is being eaten unjustly by different individuals with various uncleansed spoons. Would you like to have such a left over food as your meal?
ReplyDeleteAkintola or whatever your name is, you can give your 5 years old daughter in marriage to a 50 years old man.
ReplyDeleteWhy are you Anonymous? What is your problem if He does? Why not look after your own daughter, if you have one? Moreover, we are not talking about a 5 year.
DeleteWhy wont she ne anonymous when d next thing u people will do is kill him or her? Can u people allow citizens air their views? again Nigeria is NOT an islamic nation!
ReplyDeleteJazakallah!
ReplyDeleteFor those who think they are Nigerians should be discreet to their words. you seems to know nothing about Nigeria that you claim to come from. You prod in to argument with filthy perdition, and without been candid to Nigerians. How dare you ignore and forget thousands of villages with thousands of people, that has no access to even primary school in other to accentuate what you christen as “SECULAR NIGERIA” .
ReplyDeleteAre you here to say all the quack doctors in Nigeria killing patients in hospitals are still necessity to youth? Or you mean to say the issue of poverty, food, road, water, electricity and education in general are now history in Nigeria. I don't know, if you are here to tell us that, all the illegal pregnancy of female child at tender age has been legalized in the Nigerian constitutions?
You know what? This is a prosaic argument and it will only cause derision to what people are facing. Though, our luxurious sybarites, selfish misers, avaricious and thoughtless prodigal are using it to barricade their covetous mind. THE FEAR OF GOD IS THE BEGINNING OF WISDOM.