It is claimed that Qur’an in 65:4 allows prepubescent girls to be married off:
وَاللاَّئِى يَئِسْنَ مِنَ الْمَحِيضِ مِن نِّسَآئِكُمْ إِنِ ارْتَبْتُمْ فَعِدَّتُهُنَّ ثَلَـثَةُ أَشْهُرٍ وَاللَّـتِي لَمْ يَحِضْنَ وَأُوْلَـتُ الاٌّحْمَالِ أَجَلُهُنَّ أَن يَضَعْنَ حَمْلَهُنَّ وَمَن يَتَّقِ اللَّهَ يَجْعَل لَّهُ مِنْ أَمْرِهِ يُسْراً
And those who no longer expect menstruation among your women – if you doubt, then their period is three months, and [also for] those who have not menstruated. And for those who are pregnant, their term is until they give birth. And whoever fears Allah – He will make for him of his matter ease.
A number of commentaries are shown to confirm that marriage with those who have not menstruated can be done. I have not quoted any of these as this paper does not argue against them and it tackles only the relevant part i.e. intercourse with prepubescent girls. What the scholars say is admitted by Muslims without question and this paper does not divert from the classical Islamic position in any way.
Who are included in those who have not menstruated?
- Those women who do not menstruate due to medical condition. Either their process is delayed or it does not take place at all. This verse includes them and this is natural and understandable.
- Those women who have not menstruated and there is no medical condition. This category of women is the subject of controversy and is discussed further below.
Why does Islam allow marrying those who have not menstruated?
Before proceeding, what must be understood is that Islam differentiates between marriage and consummation. Marriage is something similar to what we call engagement in our times. The different cultures consider it differently and we today consider the ancient Arab custom of this marriage as an engagement. The Prophet (ﷺ) married Aisha (رضي الله عنها) when she had not reached puberty i.e. he got engaged to her while she continued to live in her own home with her parents. Such a marriage is akin to engagement in our times. Hence, we see that engagement with a minor is allowed (with conditions elaborated below) while intercourse is not.
One may counter argue that the verse (Q.65:4) says that those who have not menstruated must wait for three months when they are divorced while the verse (Q.33:49) states that there is no waiting period for those who have not consummated their marriage:
يأَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ ءَامَنُواْ إِذَا نَكَحْتُمُ الْمُؤْمِنَـتِ ثُمَّ طَلَّقْتُمُوهُنَّ مِن قَبْلِ أَن تَمَسُّوهُنَّ فَمَا لَكُمْ عَلَيْهِنَّ مِنْ عِدَّةٍ تَعْتَدُّونَهَا فَمَتِّعُوهُنَّ وَسَرِّحُوهُنَّ سَرَاحاً جَمِيلاً
O You who have believed, when you marry believing women and then divorce them before you have touched them, then there is not for you any waiting period to count concerning them. So provide for them and give them a gracious release [Q.33:49].
Since Q.33:49 states that those married women who haven’t consummated their marriage have no waiting period and Q.65:4 states that those who haven’t menstruated must wait for three months until they can remarry, it is evident that those who have not menstruated in Q.65:4 refer to those who have consummated their marriage. Hence, it is claimed that the women mentioned in Q.65:4 are consummated minors.
This is an appeal from silence. It may work if there is no explicit text to the contrary. However, the truth is that Islam explicitly forbids intercourse with minors. The women who fall under Q.65:4 are those who have reached puberty and the age of maturity but have not menstruated for whatever reasons. If they are divorced after consummation of marriage, they wait for three months till they can remarry.
Since the scholars are clear that Q.65:4 also includes prepubescent girls, how is one to understand this verse? The fact that it is permissible to marry a young girl does not mean that it is permissible to have intercourse with her; rather that should not be done until she is able for it. A girl may reach the age where she develops desire for physical intimacy and has developed a body for the purpose as well but only lacks menstruation; in such a case, Islam does not hold her from the right to intimacy. Scholars have a consensus that intercourse must not be done when the girl cannot bear it – it must not take place before the age when she develops desire for intimacy. The great scholars of Islam, after which schools have developed, Maalik, al-Shaafa’i and Abu Hanifah have said that the marriage may be consummated when the girl is able for intercourse, which varies from one girl to another, so no age limit can be set (in the Shariah). If countries lay down laws stipulating a minimum age, Islam does not stop us from honoring them.
With regard to consummation of the marriage with a minor, it does not become permissible by merely drawing up the marriage contract; rather the husband should not consummate the marriage with her until she is able to have intercourse, which is not necessarily at puberty. This is something that varies from one environment and time to another. With regards to that, Shariah pays attention to physical makeup. [*]
It should be noted that al-Shafi’i and his companions said: It is preferable for fathers and grandfathers not to marry off a virgin until she reaches the age of puberty and they ask her permission, lest she end up in a marriage that she dislikes. What they said does not go against the Hadith of Aisha, because what they meant is that they should not marry her off before she reaches puberty if there is no obvious interest to be served that they fear will be missed out on if they delay it, as in the Hadith of Aisha. In that case it is preferable to go ahead with the marriage because the father is enjoined to take care of his child’s interests and not to let a good opportunity slip away.[*]
What does best interest of the girl mean?
لكن ذكر بعض العلماء الإجماع على أن له أن يزوجها، مستدلين بحديث عائشة ـ رضي الله عنها ـ، وقد ذكرنا الفرق، وقال ابن شبرمة من الفقهاء المعروفين: لا يجوز أن يزوج الصغيرة التي لم تبلغ أبداً؛ لأننا إن قلنا بشرط الرضا فرضاها غير معتبر، ولا نقول بالإجبار في البالغة فهذه من باب أولى، وهذا القول هو الصواب، أن الأب لا يزوج بنته حتى تبلغ، وإذا بلغت فلا يزوجها حتى ترضى.
لكن لو فرضنا أن الرجل وجد أن هذا الخاطب كفء، وهو كبير السن، ويخشى إن انتقل إلى الآخرة صارت البنت في ولاية إخوتها أن يتلاعبوا بها، وأن يزوِّجوها حسب أهوائهم، لا حسب مصلحتها، فإن رأى المصلحة في أن يزوجها من هو كفء فلا بأس بذلك، ولكن لها الخيار إذا كبرت؛ إن شاءت قالت: لا أرضى بهذا ولا أريده.
وإذا كان الأمر كذلك فالسلامة ألا يزوجها، وأن يدعهاإلى الله ـ عزّ وجل ـ فربما أنه الآن يرى هذا الرجل كفئاً ثم تتغير حال الرجل، وربما يأتي الله لها عند بلوغها النكاح برجل خير من هذا الرجل؛ لأن الأمور بيد الله ـ سبحانه وتعالى ـ.
Ibn Taymiyyah narrated from Ibn Shubrumah that he said: It is not permissible to arrange a marriage for a young girl who has not reached the age of puberty, because if we say that that is subject to her consent, her consent does not count (because she is too young to make such decisions), and when she does reach the age of puberty we believe that she should not be forced into a marriage. Ibn Taymiyyah said: This view is the correct one, that the father should not arrange a marriage for his daughter until she reaches the age of puberty, and when she reaches the age of puberty he should not arrange a marriage unless she gives her consent.
But if we assume that a man regards this suitor as compatible and he (the father) is old, and there is the fear that if he passes away and guardianship of the girl passes to her brothers, they may not take the matter of her marriage seriously and they may arrange her marriage according to their whims and desires, not according to what is in her best interests, and he thinks that it is in her best interests to arrange her marriage to someone who is compatible, there is nothing wrong with that, but she will have the choice when she grows up; if she wishes she may say: I do not agree to this and I do not want it.
If the matter is like this, then the safest option is not to arrange her marriage and to entrust her to Allah, may He be glorified and exalted. Perhaps now he thinks that this man is compatible but then the man’s situation may change, and perhaps when she reaches the age of marriage Allah will bring her a man who is better than this man, because all things are in the hand of Allah, may He be glorified and exalted. [Al-Sharh al-Mumti‘, 12/57-59]
There is no forced marriage
Islam neither allows nor recognizes forced marriages. The Prophet (ﷺ) said:
الثَّيِّبُ أَحَقُّ بِنَفْسِهَا وَالْبِكْرُ يَسْتَأْمِرُهَا أَبُوهَا
A previously married woman has more right (to decide) about herself (with regard to marriage) (than her guardian), and a virgin should be consulted by her father. [Sunan an-Nasa’i 3264]
لاَ تُنْكَحُ الْبِكْرُ حَتَّى تُسْتَأْذَنَ
A virgin should not be given in marriage until her permission is granted. [Sahih al-Bukhari 6970]
Conclusion
- Girls who have not yet reached puberty may be married (or engaged as per our modern standards) by their guardian depending only on some strict conditions
- When this marriage takes place, she is not sent over to the husband (or fiancé as per our modern standards) but stays with her parents or guardians
- The girl has the right to accept or turn it down when she reaches the age of maturity
- There is no concept of forced marriage in Islam
- Intercourse with a girl that has not reached the age of maturity is not allowed in Islam
- There is no specific age limit set as a minimum for marriage and varies from person to person
Indeed, Allah knows best.
Qur'anic misconceptions addressed 
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Also one other thing most people miss out is that the 3 month iddah period is there to make sure there isn’t any chance of pregnancy. But if 65:4 meant sex with prebuscent girls, that wouldn’t be necessary at all, cuz they can’t get pregnant unless they start ovulating which happens once they start menstruating(or in rare cases 10 or 12 days before that).
I think the verse refers to women who don’t menstruate even though menstruation is part of their cycle(i.e., they are women who have crossed puberty ,but doesn’t menstruate either they missed their periods due to any medical problem or due to pregnancy)
Pregnancy isn’t the only reason why there’s Iddah, which is why women who are well past their child bearing age (post menopause) also have to observe it. So one could just easily answer you and say that the Iddah for the non menstruating ones is to be observed for the same purpose as those post menopause.
what’s the other reason then? There is literally no other logical reason for that time period.
this explanation makes more sense:
http://quransmessage.com/articles/verse%2065-4%20FM3.htm
A few things worth mentioning:
The ages of the daughters of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ when they got married/engaged:
1. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ married Khadija (r) when he was 25 and he was granted prophethood at the age of 40.
2. All of his daughters were married before he was given prophethood except his last and youngest daughter Fatima (r) who was five at the time of prophethood.
3. Abu al-Aas b. Rabi was married to his eldest daughter Zainab (r); Ruqayyah (r) the second oldest was married to Utba b. Abi Lahab and his third daughter Umm Kulsoom (r) was married to another son of Abu Lahab, Utaibah.
4. So when the Prophet (ﷺ) married at 25 and was given prophethood at the age of 40, his eldest daughter couldn’t have been more than 14 years old.
5. Zainab (r) was born when the Prophet ﷺ was thirty years old and at the time of prophethood her age becomes 10 and she was married around/slightly before this time.
6. Ruqayyah was born when the Prophet ﷺ was 33 years old and her age becomes seven when the Prophet ﷺ was given prophethood and she too was married (read: engaged) at seven and divorced at a slightly older age after which she was married to Uthman (r). Married at seven would actually mean engaged at seven and actual marriage would be a little after that.
7. Umm Kulsoom (r) was older than Fatima (r) who was five years old and younger than Ruqayyah (r), so Umm Kulsoom’s (r) age becomes six at the time of prophethood and she too was engaged at the age of six and married a few years later and then divorced at a slightly older age.
8. Thus the daughters of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ were already married at the ages of ten, engaged at seven and six except for Fatima (r).
Ok
So you’re saying child marriage was normal in the Prophet’s family then? Can you provide some reading with evidence on the accuracy of the timelines? (NOT hadiths).
If you read this, you won’t use this term ‘child marriage’: https://qurananswers.me/2017/03/25/young-marriage-aisha/
girls can get menstruation starting 5 to 8 its called precautious puberty. does this mean if an islamic leader sets no age limit, then wali can make her marry and consummate her marriage with a husband at that age as she has reached puberty and there is no limits/age of consent?
No. If she looks like a child, she is a child. If she looks older, she is treated as such. You are as old as you look.
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Salam alikom brother, may Allah reward and preserve you.
I would like to argue that nikah is not an engagement. There is no doubt that islam prohibits marriage consumation before puberty. However, with the aqd of Nikah mahr has become obligatory, maintenance, as well as the contract makes all fysical contact halal and removes the obligation of hijab and sitr between te spouses.
I aggree completely that for the consumation of the marriage there are different requirements then nikah. One can not consume the marriage during the menses for example or during the post partum bleeding, or prepuberty. So without a doubt there are seperate requirements to consumation.
Nonetheless I think the idea of considering Nikah as a mere engagement might result in issues. The woman obviously can’t just break her nikah. Iddah for the zani is one month, the pregnant untill birth, widow 4 months 10 days, so iddah can differ. It isn’t without dispute that a married, or if you would prefer, engaged woman, seperates without consumation there is no iddah requirements, have they been together?
If you consider it an engagement, then does this mean maintance, mehr etc, become obligatory only by consumation? If nikah does not make them married then how does one go about getting married in islam? I’m affraid you confused the term “khitba” and “nikah”.
However I appreciate your article, the other articles on your website, your translations, may Allah increase you and make you succesfull and bless you.
Wa’alaykumusSalaam wr wb,
Thanks for the kind words and encouragement. What you state is 100% correct; however, there are some parallels between the idea of engagement and ‘the time between nikah (contract) and the woman moving to the husband’s home’. The intended audience were non-Muslims and so to explain to them, a somewhat similar idea/term was used from common language so they can understand better.
I don’t understand this article … so consummation with girls that haven’t reached biological puberty is allowed?? Even if she can bear it this is still prepubescent marriage
No. It is not allowed. Copy/paste the part where you got this impression from.
Hi,
I read ur child Marriage articles about prepubescent marriage.
you stated that marriage can be done if the girl can physically bear intercourse and that puberty isn’t a requirement
wouldn’t this be basically prepubescent marriage and would fit under pedophilia?
please solve this concern
Please copy/paste the part that gives the impression that puberty is not a requirement. There is nothing stated like this but if a particular passage caused confusion, please copy/paste that.
Salam can u reply to the paragraphs below? They bring quotes from sunni scholars about this topic which is kind of disturbing
>There is evidence the followers certainly knew girls could get damaged. Revolting but true. From sunni sources: More of the Deobandi / Sufi variety. From Heavenly Ornaments https://archive.org/details/HeavenlyOrnamentsBashitiZewarVol1To3/Heavenly-Ornaments-Bashiti-Zewar-vol-1 to 3/page/n49/mode/2up to 3/page/n49/mode/2up (right bottom continued on next page) “1 . If a woman is under age but not so small that if one has intercourse with her there is a fear of the vaginal tissues tearing to such an extent that the vagina and anus will virtually come together; then by the insertion of the glans of the penis into her vagina ghusl will become fardh on the man if he has reached the age of puberty. (However, if there is the aforementioned fear in a very minor girl, then mere insertion of the penis does not render ghusl obligatory.)” https://archive.org/details/HeavenlyOrnamentsBashitiZewarVol1To3/Heavenly-Ornaments-Bashiti-Zewar-vol-1 to 3/page/n51/mode/2up “2. If a man has intercourse with any under-aged woman, ghusl will not become fardh on condition that semen does not come out and that woman is so young that one fears that by having intercourse with her, her private parts will become connected.” If you have doubts there are several versions of the Heavenly Ornaments on archive.org. For Shias: Khomeiny’s book ‘Tahrir al Wasilah’. Translation: Dr. Sayyid Ali Reza Naqavi Pubished 2001 https://archive.org/details/TahrirAlVasilah/0000-tahrir j3-nA4/page/n441/mode/2up “Problem # 12. Intercourse with a woman is not allowed unless she attains the age of nine years, regardless whether the marriage is permanent or temporary. There is, however, no objection in other enjoyments like touching lasciviously, hugging and rubbing the thighs, even with a suckling infant. If a person has had intercourse with a girl before she has attained the age of nine years, but it has not resulted in ifda’ he shall not be subjected to any punishment, except that he shall be considered to have committed a sin. If this intercourse has resulted in Ida’. so that the urinal and menstrual or the menstrual and fecal passages have become one she shall be rendered perpetually prohibited to him though, according to the more cautious opinion, it shall be so in the latter case. In any case, according to the stronger opinion, she shall not cease to be his wife. So all the laws relating to her wifehood shall apply to her like mutual inheritance, prohibition on having a fifth wife, and the prohibition for the husband to marry her sister, etc. He shall be bound to maintain her as long as she is alive, even if he divorces her, rather, according to the more cautious opinion, even if she marries another husband after the divorce by the first husband, rather it is not devoid of force, and he shall also be bound to pay the Diyat for Ilda’ to her, and that is equal to the Diyat of a human being. If the wife is a free woman, she shall receive half the Diyat of a man in addition to the dower to which she is entitled by virtue of the contract and consummation of marriage. If the husband performs intercourse with his wife after she has completed nine years of age, and it results in Ilda’ , she shall neither be rendered unlawful to him, nor shall he be required to pay her Diyat, but, according to the more cautious opinion, he shall be bound to maintain her as long as she is alive, though, according to the stronger opinion, he is not bound to do so.”. So the author was clearly aware that fistulas from intercourse itself can happen before 9 years old and after 9 years old. There is also the risk of pregnancy that could kill a girl or cause fistulas.
W/Salam,
Jurists have had varying approaches of discussing topics. Some have been very strict against hypotheticals whereas some entertained such questions and derived rulings. For example, the topic of eating a mermaid has been discussed and even the topic of whether it is allowed to pray holding urine in a bag. These sound absurd but they discussed them to derive legal rulings.
These quotations do not prove that Islam encourages or approves of harming young girls. Rather, they show that jurists discussed difficult legal scenarios that could occur and tried to determine the legal consequences if someone committed a sinful or harmful act.
The passages from Bahishti Zewar are from a much later Hanafi legal manual, not the Qur’an or authentic Sunnah. They are discussing the rules of ghusl (ritual bathing), not giving permission to have intercourse with young girls. Classical fiqh books often discuss hypothetical situations, even sinful ones to explain legal rulings. For example, they discuss rulings on murder, rape, incest, and bestiality; that does not mean they endorse those acts. Likewise, the quotation from Khomeini explicitly states: “Intercourse with a woman is not allowed unless she attains the age of nine years.” The remainder discusses the legal consequences if someone violates that rule and causes severe injury (ifda). Discussing the consequences of a prohibited act is not the same as permitting it. As for the references to tearing or fistulas, they demonstrate that jurists were aware that intercourse could cause catastrophic injury. That awareness is precisely why they discussed liability, compensation, maintenance, and other legal consequences. Awareness of a risk does not mean approval of exposing someone to that risk. More importantly, Islamic law contains broader principles that prohibit causing harm. The Prophet (ﷺ) said: There should be neither harming nor reciprocating harm. Marriage and intimacy are also based on kindness and good treatment, as the Qur’an commands. A husband who knowingly causes serious harm violates these principles.
Muslims are not required to treat every later juristic opinion as infallible. The Qur’an and Sunnah are the primary sources, while later fiqh works represent scholars’ attempts to apply those sources within their historical context. Individual rulings can be critiqued, re-examined, or disagreed with by other scholars.
I heard that if there is a nikah contract, even if the girl is prepubescent and cannot handle intercourse, other sexual acts like kissing, oral, etc are allowed is this true??
No. That is not true. More here.
Adding to my previous message, would the same prohibition of minor sexual acts like oral be forbidden to concubines who haven’t reached maturity enough to handle sexual intercourse??
Yes, that is true.
Abu rahma then matter it troubled me alot because there was an allegation against Islam that even if your forbidden to consummate/ have intercourse thighing an immature girl would be permissible.
the enemies of Islam said this because there is very old fatwas that discussed this. I appreciate ur constant answering
do we disregard the fatwas ?
No that’s not true. See here and here.