Kerala Muslim forum rejects move to lower age of marriage

September 25, 2013 03:46 am | Updated November 16, 2021 09:07 pm IST - Kozhikode:

The Khuran Sunnath Society, which has questioned the validity of many religious practices observed by Muslims, has said that it will take legal action to defeat the move to lower the marriage age for Muslim girls. It was a retrograde step that would take the community back into the sixth century, society office-bearers said at a press meet on Tuesday.

The leaders said the interest shown by the religious heads to lift the ban on child marriage was meant to deny Muslim girls their legitimate right to higher education. Condemning marriage between immature adolescents — which the religious leaders wanted to facilitate — as anti-Koran and anti-national, the leaders said they had decided to launch a State-wide campaign against the move to get exemption for Muslims from the provisions of the Child Marriage (Prevention) Act that banned marriage of girls below the age of 18 years.

“The move is to win over Arabs and make money… It is surprising that even the Muslim Educational Society, led by Fazal Gafoor, is backing this move. The fact is that no organisation can claim to be the lone and only representative voice of Muslim community. Giving girls in marriage without their consent amounts to harassment and persecution of women. This move is also aimed at the Muslim vote bank. The Khuran Sunnath Society would lead the resistance against this move,” said the spokesmen for the society that was once led by Islamic scholar Chekannur Maulavi who disappeared under mysterious circumstances years ago.

Hassan’s stance

Special Correspondent writes from Thiruvananthapuram:

Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee vice-president M.M. Hassan on Tuesday said the Congress did not agree with the opinions of Muslim religious scholars on reducing the marriage age of girls belonging to the community. Addressing a press conference here, Mr. Hassan that fixing the marriage age as 18 was not against the Muslim Personal Law.

Reducing the marriage age will only retard the social and educational progress of the community.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.