The Position of Javed Ahmed Ghamidi and Islamic Scholars on Nikkah and Child Marriage

Nikkah is a Muslim matrimonial ceremony which adopts the form a legal contract between a couple. According to the provisions of the Islamic laws that govern the legalization of marriage, there are various pre-requisites of Nikkah that needs to be fulfilled before official legalization of marriage. Islamic jurists and scholars are of the view that the Nikkah ceremony can be executed at any age provided that wedding processing doesn’t the place before the age of adolescence. The existing Islamic laws prevailed in Pakistan that govern the institution of marriage stipulate that the minimum age for marriage is 16 years. Though, several bills have been tabled in the parliament which has proposed the minimum age limit for marriage to 18 years. Additionally, the Islamic Ideological Council (ICC) has also endorsed the proposal of the parliamentary bill seeking the extension of minimum age limit to 18 years for marriage. Javed Ahmed Ghamidi, a renowned Islamic scholar hold distinct views about the minimum age limit for marriage. He opines that the minimum age limit for Nikkah should be 18 years. Besides, he further asserts that it is not essential for a bride to have a Wali (male guardian) to supervise a nikkah. On the other hand, great majority of the Islamic scholars believe that the presence of a Wali during legalization process of marriage is mandatory. Furthermore, proponents and jurists of Islamic jurisprudence believe that nikkah ceremony cannot be executed without the presence of a Wali and a Gawah (witness). Both bride and groom shall be accompanied by their respective witnesses. Ghamidi on the other hand refute such laws and expresses that neither the presence of a Wali nor a witness is necessary for execution of marriage ceremony. He also advocates that besides attainment of physical maturity, the attainment of mental maturity is also important for a girl to get married. He considers marriage of underage girls a cruelty and discrimination against girls. He proposes that the government of Pakistan should take serious measures to set the minimum age of marriage to 18 years. He also recommends that the wedding procession shall not take place before the attainment of adolescence. He advocates both the attainment of 18 years age and adolescence as pre-requisite for marriage besides the abolition of the condition of mandatory presence of a Wali and a witness for the execution of the marriage process.