METHODOLOGY FOR STUDY OF THE QUR'AN
by Sheikh Imran Nazar Hosein
Wrong methodology lead to error concerning
the age at which marriage is permissible
It remains a matter of profound regret that many Muslims (including some scholars) came to a deplorable conclusion, based on a misreading of a solitary verse of the Qur’ān that Allah Most High has permitted marriage with a girl even before she reaches the age of puberty:
“Such of your women as have passed the age of monthly (menstrual) courses, for them the prescribed period, if ye have any doubts, is three months, and for those who have no (menstrual) courses (it is the same): for those who carry (life within their wombs), their period is until they deliver their burdens: and for those who fear Allah, He will make their path easy.”
(Qur’ān, al-Talāq, 65:4)
The above verse deals with the law of divorce in Islam which prescribes a waiting period after a pronouncement of divorce, before the divorce enters into-force, or takes effect. That waiting period is three menstrual periods of the wife who is being divorced. In the event that the wife has reached the age of menopause when women stop having the menstrual periods, the law prescribes instead, a waiting period of three months. It then explains that the same waiting period of three months will apply for wives who (otherwise) have no menstrual periods.
Such a woman who does not have her normal monthly menstrual period can either be one who has not as yet reached the age of puberty – hence she will not qualify as other than a child – or a woman who suffers from an abnormal state of no menses. Which of the two is the Qur’ān referring to in the above verse?
The very clear answer emerges from even a cursory study of the rest of the Qur’ān that marriage is always with Nisā (i.e. women), and never with a child. Whenever the Qur’ān has referred to marriage, or to intimate relations, it has always used the word Nisā.
In one verse in particular, the Qur’ān has referred to Nisā as Harth (i.e., tilth or field which is ploughed so that seeds can be planted with the hope that they will fertilize and grow and produce a crop):
“Your women are your tilth; go, then, unto your tilth as you may desire …”
(Qur’ān, al-Baqarah, 2:223)
In order therefore, for a girl to become Nisā, and hence eligible for sexual intercourse with men, she must reach the age of puberty, since it is only at this age that her womb can qualify as Harth, or a field which can be cultivated. Prior to that age her womb cannot be cultivated since no seed can ever be fertilized and grow.
The same guidance from the Qur’ān concerning marriage is to be found in the verse where Allah Most High directed attention to the collective responsibility of the community of Muslims for maintenance of an abnormally high number of widows and orphans in the wake of two wars which had taken place (i.e., the battle of Badr and of Uhud). His first, and most urgent response, was to advise a means of resolving the problem of maintenance of orphan girls (since they are His first priority) as follows:
And if you fear that you will not be able to fulfill (your collective responsibility to maintain) the orphan (girls), (since, for example, the Zakāt funds may not suffice) marry from among those (orphan girls who have become) women (i.e., who have reached the age of puberty) and who are pleasing to you, – two or three or four; but if you fear that ye cannot do justice (in respect of maintaining all these wives with equity since, for example, you may not have the resources to do so) then (marry only) one (and instead of marrying those orphan girls who are eligible for marriage) you may take them (with their guardians’ consent, as Milk alYamīn) as those that your right hands possess (who do not have to be maintained on the basis of equity with wives). That is better (for you) since you will consequently not do injustice (by failing to maintain the orphan girls who are the most vulnerable of all those who need to be maintained.
(Qur’ān, al-Nisā, 4:3)
(Note: When you have the resources to do so, you should then marry such Milk al-Yamīn, so they would then become wives. While we do not address and explain the subject of Milk al-Yamīn at this time, and in this book, it should be clear to our readers that wrong methodology has also led many to a wrong explanation of the several verses of the Qur’ān on this subject.)
The above verse makes it abundantly clear that the orphan girls can be married only when they are women, i.e., they have attained the age of puberty.
It is now also clear that the Hadīth in Sahīh Bukhārī which declared that Nabī Muhammad (s) married a six-year-old child, is in manifest conflict with the Qur’ān, and hence false and fabricated.
Those who disagree with the above should show some integrity by declaring that it is Sunnah to marry a six year-old, and that they are themselves prepared to accept and to apply this Sunnah, since Allah Most High has declared (Qur’ān, al-Ahzāb, 33:21) that the conduct of the blessed Prophet is the best example or model of human conduct. They should also explain why no one has followed this so-called Sunnah since the time of the blessed Prophet.
Finally, they should prepare to defend their view when ISIS arranges for the marriage of a 6 year-old child with a 55 year-old man to be video recorded with Zionist-supplied state-of-the-art recording equipment, and that video is then broadcast on every television channel in the world.
to be continued .....
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