We are promoting secularism in every country of the world. For the Muslim Times’ collection on secularism, please click here
Source: The Independent
A move to ban child marriages in Pakistan has been withdrawn after meeting staunch resistance from a religious body, which branded the bill as “anti-Islamic”.
The ruling party politician who introduced the bill, Marvi Menon of the Pakistan Muslim League party, withdrew it after the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) dubbed the bill “blasphemous”.
The CII unanimously rejected the proposed Child Marriage Restraint (Amendment) Bill 2014 on “purely religious grounds”, reports The Express Tribune.
CII Chairman Mohammad Khan Sheerani said the bill contradicted Islamic teachings.
In the West the topic of ‘child marriage’ is totally disconnected with the ‘age of sexual activity’. In Muslim society this should of course be the same. Consequently Western NGOs lobby for a minimum age for marriage of 18, but see nothing wrong in the beginning of sexual activity in the West on the average of 15 or 16. (with an ‘average of 15 or 16 that means quite a lot of activity is below that age as of course some start this activity later). Let’s not be hypocrites and be pragmatic. For Muslims the age of marriage must be the same as the age of ‘sexual activity’.