At what age is it appropriate for girls to get married?

- At what age did Aisha (ra) get married?

Dear Brother / Sister,

According to the vast majority of scholars, including the imams of the four madhhabs, it is permissible to marry a girl who has not yet reached puberty to a suitable person. Their evidence for it is as follows:

a. The phrase “and for those who have no courses (it is the same)” in the verse, “Such of your women as have passed the age of monthly courses, for them the prescribed period, if ye have any doubts, is three months, and for those who have no courses (it is the same)” (at-Talaq, 65/4) indicates that girls who have not yet menstruated can also be married.

b. The verse “Marry those among you who are single…” (an-Nur, 24/32) does not specify any age limit, which indicates that marriage is possible even before reaching the age of puberty.

c. Aisha (ra) narrates: “When I was six – or in another narration, seven – the Prophet (pbuh) married me; and when I was nine, he had intercourse with me.” Bukhari, Muslim, and Ahmad b. Hanbal narrated this hadith. (See Naylul-Awtar, 6/120).

d. It is known that some of the Companions of the Prophet, including Ali, married off their daughters who were considered very young.

e. Sometimes, marrying off a young girl may be for a certain reason. The father may marry his daughter off out of concern that if he misses a suitable suitor, she may never find another one like that. A certain reason is a religious justification. (See W. Zuhayli, al-Fiqhul-Islami, 7/179-180).

Additional Information:

- According to the view accepted by Islamic scholars, the age of puberty is determined by menstruation for women and ejaculation for men. The beginning of menstruation for women is around nine years of age (twelve years for men). Women and men who have reached this age are considered mature and responsible. If those conditions are not observed, the age of puberty is considered to be fifteen years. (See Raddul-Muhtar, 1/306-307; Jazari, al-Fiqhu alal-Madhahibil-Arbaa, 1/123-127; Zuhayli, ibid, 1/456).

- Some scholars consider the age of puberty to be seventeen for women and eighteen or nineteen for men. (See Mabsut, 7/260-Shamila).

- In warmer regions, puberty and marriage age begin earlier than in other regions.

- According to the vast majority of scholars, the first limit for menstruation is nine years old. Menstruation signifies that an environment suitable for the fetus/child is being prepared. This ontological/biological preparation is also an ontological document indicating that a menstruating woman is eligible for marriage.

- In light of all this information, it can be said that the marriage of Aisha at the age of nine can be interpreted in two ways:

Firstly, in Arabs, girls’ ages were counted after they started to menstruate. Therefore, the information in the narrations should be evaluated accordingly. Besides, there is information indicating that Aisha married when she was seventeen or eighteen years old.

Secondly, if we consider it beginning from birth, it is both in accordance with the customs of the time and highly ethical from the perspective of ontological divine law.

Besides, the practice of ‘young girls marrying at a young age’, which was considered ethically normal and perfectly natural within the conditions and cultural context of that era, being deemed abnormal and criticized in today’s modern world, a world governed by rational thought and cultural values is something that any fair-minded historian, sociologist, or anthropologist would not find reasonable even if religious considerations were set aside.

The way modern children perceive the natural norms of human nature, accepting them as either natural or abnormal according to the norms of their social environment and cultural mindset, is similar to this: In many societies around the world, it is considered natural and inherent for men to choose their spouses and propose marriage while the opposite is regarded as abnormal.

On the other hand, in many tribal cultures identified by anthropologists, women make the choice of spouse and propose marriage while men play a more passive role. In fact, those two situations show that both are inherent in human nature. Thus, what is often considered moral value judgments are the product of a perspective shaped by habits, not a healthy mindset.

In this context, the fact that early marriage of girls is not frowned upon in the Arabian Peninsula indicates a permissible practice that each culture and community can apply in accordance with its own norms. Therefore, it would be wrong to infer from this divine permission that early marriage of girls is appropriate and acceptable in places where these norms are not widespread and cultural values have not been formed; similarly, it would be a product of unhealthy mindset to conclude that it is wrong for a girl to marry in a society where the cultural ground is suitable, under conditions where she will not experience trauma and will perceive it as perfectly natural. Indeed, in Turkey, many people’s grandmothers were married at the age of fourteen or fifteen a couple of generations ago, and this was considered perfectly natural, but now, due to changing norms, it is regarded as an extremely bad wrongdoing.

In conclusion, it can be said that divine decrees are given within this broad scope of halal and haram, taking into account every era, every society, all kinds of changing norms and cultural values; however, in practice, it is appropriate for societies to apply the decrees closest to their own norms within that broad scope, according to their own moral structures.

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