Muftis cannot enforce minimum age for marriage, say Islamic authorities

Shariah lawyers have recently welcomed a call to make Islamic laws in the country uniform, saying it could help the battle against underage marriages among Muslims.

PETALING JAYA: Muftis can only propose the minimum age for marriage, not enforce it, according to Islamic authorities in Perak and Johor.

Perak mufti Harussani Zakaria told FMT that muftis could not set a minimum marriageable age and insist on adherence since it is not specified in Islam.

The Johor executive councillor in charge of Islamic affairs, Abdul Mutalib Abdul Rahim, said muftis could propose the minimum age but added that Muslims below that age could apply to the shariah courts to get married.

He said the courts would usually approve such applications.

Mutalib also commented on former Terengganu mufti Ismail Yahya’s suggestion that shariah law be made uniform across the states.

He agreed that muftis should discuss the proposal with the state religious councils, but said there were not many discrepancies between the states.

Ismail recently said Muslims in Malaysia were being deprived of justice due to the application of different sets of Islamic laws across the states.

He said the campaign to stop underage marriages among Muslims had failed as some states could allow a girl as young as 16 to tie the knot.

Shariah Lawyers Association Malaysia president Musa Awang, commenting last Friday on Ismail’s remarks, said making the country’s Islamic laws uniform would not only ease the work of shariah lawyers but also make such laws easier for people to understand.

Pahang mufti Abdul Rahman Osman said yesterday most shariah enactments were already uniform across the states.

He said there were other parties apart from muftis who had to be involved in the process of bringing about uniformity in Islamic laws and he mentioned state Islamic councils and the sultans. - FMT