MOSTResource.org

Resources on Muslims for the Entertainment Industry

  • Story Bank
    • Business & Technology
    • Entertainment
    • Culture & Lifestyle
    • Medical
    • National
    • Faith
    • Sports
    • Women
    • World
  • Resources
    • Faces & Places
    • Statistics
    • Infographics
    • Research / Reports
    • Quick Takes
  • Perspectives
  • Events
  • About
    • Contact Us
    • Staff
    • Parent Organization
    • Videos
  • Story Bank
  • Business & Technology
  • Entertainment
  • Culture & Lifestyle
  • Medical
  • National
  • Faith
  • Sports
  • Women
  • World
mostresource storybank video

Explored Our Story Bank Yet?

Our curated collection of thousands of stories has helped top Hollywood writers, producers, and creatives. Watch our brief video to learn more.

Women, World — June 28, 2019   

Former Child Bride Prevails and Gets Fatwa Against Child Marriage

Original article by Susie Neilson published in the NPR on 06/26/2019

Photo Credit: Louis Leeson for NPR
Photo Credit: Louis Leeson for NPR

According to UNICEF, nearly 800 million people alive today were married as children. Even though child marriage is against the law in most countries and considered a human rights violation by the United Nations, many communities still consider it a part of religious or cultural tradition. According to NPR, “even though Muslim leaders across the world have tried to end the practice, a number of Muslim-majority countries have relatively high rates of child marriage (as do other nations). And even in countries where the practice is banned, the government may make exceptions for ‘special cases.'”

Enter Jaha Dukureh who is determined to end child marriage as she herself was a victim. Hailing from Gambia, she was married as a child two times — first at 15 and then, after a divorce, at 17. This year, she attended the African Summit on Female Genital Mutilation and Child Marriages in Dakar, Senegal and came up with an idea to implore the Muslim clerics there to deliver a fatwa against child marriage.

A fatwa is a religious opinion issued by one or more Islamic legal scholars. Ms. Dukureh hoped to spread the message by obtaining a fatwa from a delegation of five imams at the conference — including Saleh Abbas, deputy grand imam of Egypt’s prominent Al-Azhar University. Such a fatwa would be “unique because the fatwa is coming from a major institution like Al-Azhar, which carries a lot of weight in the Islamic world,” says Salma Waheedi, associate director at the Program on Law and Society in the Muslim World at Harvard University.

NPR makes the point that the fatwa would not necessary bring immediate change. “A fatwa is non-binding, which means imams cannot enforce it in communities. But throughout history fatwas have been issued with an eye toward guiding Islamic law and civic life.”

At the conference, the delegation of imams agreed that a fatwa was justified, and worked with Dukureh and her associates (all of them women’s empowerment activists) to write the text of the fatwa and translate it from Arabic to English and French. Abbas announced the fatwa against child marriage at the close of the conference.

The fatwa states: “Marriage in Islam is based on the consent of both parties, particularly the young woman. The age of 18 marks the stage at which a woman can validly express her will to marry.” Eighteen is the age considered acceptable for marriage according to the U.N. The fatwa further notes that child marriage undercuts a girl’s childhood and development, including education. (CLICK for the full text)

Read more ...

Our Experts Are Here To Help

Want to start a conversation with our experts for help with your project?

Related Articles

  • M Film Lab Now Accepting Applications for Screenwriting Program
  • American Eid – Interview with Director Aqsa Altaf
  • Post vaccine, Muslim travelers are heading to… Israel

More From The Story Bank

Post vaccine, Muslim travelers...

Last year the Abraham Accords were signed between Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan. This marked a public normalization of relations not seen in decades. And with this new … [Read More...]

Meet the first Muslim head...

As new head coach for the New York Jets, Robert Saleh is making history as the first Muslim American to lead a team in the National Football League. The Lebanese American is also the third Arab … [Read More...]

Meet American’s Youngest...

According to The Hill, Bushra Amiwala "is part of a new generation stepping into politics." In 2019, she was elected to the Skokie Board of Education in Illinois, making this Pakistani-American … [Read More...]

Riz Ahmed Is Oscars’ First...

Riz Ahmed has become the first Muslim nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role at the Academy Awards for Sound of Metal, not long after Mahershala Ali made his own history with two Best Supporting … [Read More...]

More Women Study Physics in...

A recent report from Physics magazine finds that physics departments in many western universities have a "significant gender disparity, with far fewer women than men taking up the subject." However, … [Read More...]

Enter your email to receive periodic updates

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter

About | Contact Us | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy© 2002–2023 MOST ResourceMOST Resource globe


We use cookies to improve your browsing experience and to collect anonymous data to enable us to manage our website. Our Privacy Policy is a complete disclosure of our data collection policies, including the choices you have to control information we might collect. Your use of this site represents your consent to our Privacy Policy.