Press Release
To where are you Heading, O you who Oversee the Global Fatwa Index?!!
(Translated)

Some of the Al-Azhar men continue to walk on the path of attacking Islam and its Ahkaam (rulings) with no insight or fear of Allah (swt). They continue to make Al-Azhar Al-Sharif - which used to be the bastion against the schemes of the enemies of Islam - a platform in which they attack the provisions of Islam and its Ahkaam pertaining to women. The Global Fatwa Index of the Egyptian Dar al-Ifta (Fatwa House) stated that, “fatwas on the issue of marriage of minors limited the marriage of minors to sexual relations only, and that Hizb ut Tahrir limited marriage to sexual relations only, removing the aspect of the psychological, health, mental and physical measures, and distancing the extent of enduring the responsibility that the marriage contract imposes on both parties…” This, to start with, contradicts what the Noble Quran stated about the concept of marriage as tranquility and mercy.

﴿وَمِنْ آيَاتِهِ أَنْ خَلَقَ لَكُم مِّنْ أَنفُسِكُمْ أَزْوَاجاً لِّتَسْكُنُوا إِلَيْهَا وَجَعَلَ بَيْنَكُم مَّوَدَّةً وَرَحْمَةً إِنَّ فِي ذَلِكَ لَآيَاتٍ لِّقَوْمٍ يَتَفَكَّرُونَ﴾

“And of His signs is that He created for you from yourselves mates that you may find tranquility in them; and He placed between you affection and mercy. Indeed in that are signs for a people who give thought.” [Ar-Rum: 11]

Moreover, Islam did not set a specific age for marriage, Allah (swt) said in His Holy Book:

﴿وَأَنْكِحُوا الْأَيَامَى مِنْكُمْ وَالصَّالِحِينَ مِنْ عِبَادِكُمْ﴾

“And marry the unmarried among you and the righteous among your male slaves and female slaves.” [An-Nur: 32]

The word أَيِّم “Aiim” means: An unmarried woman who has no husband, whether she is a virgin or previously married, and an unmarried man who has no wife, and the evidence is general for every unmarried man or woman without specifying a certain age for marriage, therefore, there is no so-called "underage marriage" or even early or delayed marriage in Islam. A girl can marry even before menstruation, as He (swt) says:

﴿وَاللَّائِي يَئِسْنَ مِنَ الْمَحِيضِ مِنْ نِسَائِكُمْ إِنِ ارْتَبْتُمْ فَعِدَّتُهُنَّ ثَلَاثَةُ أَشْهُرٍ وَاللَّائِي لَمْ يَحِضْنَ﴾

“And those who no longer expect menstruation among your women - if you doubt, then their period is three months, and [also for] those who have not menstruated.” [At-Talaq: 4]

This means that it is permissible for a girl to marry before she is menstruating, and not only by reaching the age of Taklif (obligation to comply with the Shari’ah); these are the rulings of Allah (swt) and not the opinion of Hizb ut Tahrir.

They also boast about saying, “It has been proven through health and social researchers that the girl is physically and psychologically harmed; she may even reach death due to early marriages.” And here we ask them about the illegitimate relations that are prevalent in the western countries between the so-called children, the illegal pregnancy of girls between 12 and 18 years old, and the unmarried mothers at this age!!!! Is this dissolution acceptable and not cause physical and psychological harm to them, and not violate their rights as children, while a legitimate marriage that preserves rights and dignity is viewed as a violation of those rights and a waste of mental and physical health?! Evil is that which they rule...

They also neglected that Islam, its provisions and legislation are valid for every time and place because it is the legislation of the Lord of the human being, and He is most knowing of what He created, and His Laws do not change with the change of time, place, conditions and customs... So, one should not say, what was acceptable and happened during the days of our mothers and grandmothers is not acceptable now because of the progress, development and the requirements of life, and that girls now cannot take responsibility for the house, husband and children... These allegations are the result of wrong education in which the girl is not raised as a mother and housewife, but is raised as a worker and competitor for men in the field of work even if it is at the expense of herself and her home and children. Similarly, a young man cannot afford to marry and carry its material burdens, not because of his young age, but rather as a result of the greedy capitalist system and the injustice of the regimes that control the wealth and riches of the country and do not guarantee its subjects sustenance or jobs, leading to rampant unemployment and poverty. If Islam were to be applied, the basic needs of food, clothing and housing would be secure, and the state would ensure work for the youth and thus help them to bear family and material burdens... How far this life would be from our present life of suffering, poverty, injustice and misery.

If we look at the recommendation of this al-Ifta Committee to set the age of marriage for the girl at eighteen and punish those who document the marriage which is below this age or are involved in this type of marriage, under the openness and the era of freedoms and sedition (Fitnah) and the decline of values and ethics which we live in, we realize that it is only a Western thought by which they want to spread immorality among Muslims;

﴿إِنَّ الَّذِينَ يُحِبُّونَ أَن تَشِيعَ الْفَاحِشَةُ فِي الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لَهُمْ عَذَابٌ أَلِيمٌ فِي الدُّنْيَا وَالْآخِرَةِ وَاللَّهُ يَعْلَمُ وَأَنتُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ﴾

“Indeed, those who like that immorality should be spread [or publicized] among those who have believed will have a painful punishment in this world and the Hereafter. And Allah knows and you do not know.” [An-Nur: 19]

So, behold, O you people of understanding.

Women’s Section
in The Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir