Once again, Senator Yerima is in the news, claiming Islam as the basis
for his argument that a girl automatically transforms into an adult of
‘full age’ once she is married, with the attendant responsibilities that
relate to the renunciation of citizenship, irrespective of her age or
mental capacity. Because the Senator from Zamfara State has gone public
with his personal comprehension of the Shari’a, it has become necessary
to respond publicly to his utterances.
It should be pointed out, however, that several media reports on the
constitutional review debate at the Senate give the impression that
underage marriage has been endorsed by the Senate Chambers. Facts are
that S.29 of the 1979 Constitution permits a Nigerian citizen of ‘full
age’ to renounce his or her citizenship by declaration in a prescribed
manner, for which purpose ‘full age’ was stated to be 18 years and
above. The subsection also provides that, ‘any woman who is married
shall be deemed to be of full age’. In its current efforts to review the
Constitution, the Senate Committee had determined that the particular
subsection should be deleted, basically because citizenship has no
bearing on gender, as for example, voting, the right to drive a car,
possess a weapon or such similar social interactions that are evolving
or are germane to a democratic Nation. Senator Yerima, however,
vehemently argued (and lobbied) against the removal of the clause, on
the grounds that deleting that clause was against (his understanding of)
Islam. In his understanding, a girl, once married, automatically
assumes the full mental capacity and responsibility to consciously make
the prescribed declaration of renouncing her citizenship.
This position needs to scrutinized carefully, against the backdrop of
similar positions that obtain under the Shari’a and in our context, as a
Nation. Does it then follow that the married girl who is below 18, at
election time, would be permitted to vote, or is her not being issued a
voters card un-Islamic? Is the Senate now going to make an exception to
that law, permitting her to vote, or even drive, in accordance with
(Senator Yerima’s understanding of) Islam?
Contrary to the position conveyed by the Senator from Zamfara, there is
certainly no unanimity of positions on such contemporary matters of
social interaction, within Islamic jurists or the various Schools of
Thought. Surely where there is ‘silence in thetexts’ (i.e primary
sources) or lack of unanimity as regards a particular practice, that
opening allows for a society to determine for itself what is in its best
interest (maslaha), in its own context. What about married Muslim girls
who inherit property? Is it not the position that in some cases, where
not considered sufficiently mature (‘sufaha’, based on Qur’an 4:6), such
property remains in the custody of her guardian, until she grows to be
intellectually mature? This would, of course, depend on her age, mental
capacity and the size and nature of the property. Why does such property
not devolve upon her automatically upon marriage, to deal with it as
she wishes,irrespective of her mental capacity? There definitely appears
to be no basis, under the Shari’a, that would compel a girl to deal
with matters of such gravity as therenunciation of citizenship, merely
because she is married. Islam is certainly not so presumptuous or harsh
as to burden her with what she is mentally and physically incapable of
bearing. Her guardian is permitted to determine the age or stage at
which such a child can be entrusted with such grave responsibilities,
the assessment of her mental capacity being the main determinant.
As a Muslim woman (without pretensions of scholarship) forever striving
for knowledge, research into these matters has revealed that in matters
of social interaction (mu’amalat), there is a lot of latitude in what is
permitted, unless it is expressly prohibited by a clear text. The rules
are certainly not so definitive. What is also evident is that the ‘best
interests of the child’ is a paramount consideration within Islam,
along with the principle of public good (maslaha or istislah). The
operational rules are not defined (probably deliberately, in my humble
view) and the determination of such issues is best left to the
experience, custom and context of the particular society. The Qur’an
provides that the predominant consideration in matters relating to
children would depend on the point at which they can be said to not be
‘sufaha’ (mentally immature) anymore, in the context of that particular
community.
It is interesting that Senator Yerima would rather link the weighty and
dispassionate subject of citizenship with his understanding of gender
vis a vis his perception of the age of marriage, rather than with other
matters of social interaction, such as those relating to inheritance
rights, driving or even voting. Indeed, citizenship is a contemporary
phenomenon within the Sharia, as in the early days the concept of
citizenship had not been defined and people traveled across boundaries,
without restriction. In a Muslim community, when matters evolve, it is
for scholars or experts in Islamic legal philosophy-‘Usul-al-Fiqh’- and
juristic reasoning (and not even those solely learned in the
Qur’an-‘Mussafirun’, the Fiqh-‘Fuqaha’ or the Hadith-‘Muhaddithun’), to
analyze the issues with a view to arriving at an appropriate position
for the context of that relevant community. In this particular instance,
it is certainly perplexing for the Senator to insist so categorically
that even a married ‘intellectually immature’ girl must be permitted to
renounce her citizenship, irrespective of her mental capacity. The
foundation for such a general and sweeping statement within the Shari’a
is difficult to locate.
The public good remains the overriding consideration in the process of
analytical reasoning by those qualified for the purpose, so long as the
deductions are not in direct conflict with the primary sources of the
Shari’a. Therefore, in following arguments repeatedly canvassed by the
Senator, it may be necessary to examine the context in which we live, to
determine what is good, for the purpose of encouragement and support,
and what remains harmful to our society, to be confronted, discouraged
or prohibited by Muslim jurists.
Today the North of Nigeria continues to throw up Nigeria’s poorest
indices on matters relating to healthcare, nutrition, education,
empowerment and productivity. Consequently, unemployment, insecurity,
violence and poverty remain rife in that region. Statistics have it that
2/3 of the 102 million poor people in Nigeria live in the North.
Extreme poverty in the North translates into extreme vulnerability to
the effects of climate change, food security and so much more.
Incidentally, over half of the women in the North are married off by the
age of 16 and commence childbirth within the first year of marriage.
Also, of the 16 million births by girls below the age of 18, 9 out of 10
of them are married.
Facts are that nearly half of all the children under 5 years of age are
malnourished in the North East zone, with women and children in the
nutrition ‘high-burden’ States of Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Jigawa,
Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto, Yobe andZamfara suffering the most from
malnutrition, wasting and stunting. This singular factor remains the
underlying cause for 53% of under-5 deaths. If the child is stunted in
its first 1000 days, that condition is irreversible, so the future of
these children, and the larger population, is permanently shortchanged.
The health and nutritional needs of mothers, new-borns and children are
closely linked, with young mothers accounting for a majority of severely
malnourished children.
Multiple health risks arising from child marriage include the sexual
exploitation (including forced sexual relations) that she is subjected
to, as well as limited access to reproductive health services, despite
the real and present danger of contracting diseases such as HIV/AIDS,
STIs (sexually transmitted diseases) and the debilitating ailment of
VVF/RVF (VVF-a tear in the flesh between the vagina and the urinary
passage, usually due to prolonged labour, resulting in uncontrolled
urine or feces in the case of recto-vaginal fistulae-RVF), including the
abandonment that comes with such ailments. Nigeria, with 2% of the
world’s population, has 10% of VVF patients. Three-quarters of those
with VVF/RVF are young girls who are not yet physically mature but have
suffered trauma in their first pregnancy.
Statistics show that stillbirths and deaths are 50% more likely in
babies born to mothers younger than 18, as against babies born to
mothers above that age. Each day, 144 women die in childbirth in
Nigeria, with the North East alone having 5 times the global rate of
maternal mortality. The lack of information and access to support
ultimately results in psycho-social and emotional consequences, domestic
violence, abandoned (street) children, with the attendant deprivations
of their rights and freedoms, whose wellbeing is severely compromised.
The prevalence of the abuse of the right to the exercise of divorce by
Muslim men has only compounded the situation, leading to so many
negative social deviations such as substance abuse (that has become so
rampant), commercial sex work and the complete loss of values in the
entire family set up.
Many of these adolescents are married off to men much older than they,
and because of the associated power differentials, this singular factor
impedes communication between them, with the girl having no negotiation
skills in crucial decision-making that may affect her life. Having lost
out on these critical life opportunities, these married adolescents can
never aspire to living as meaningful and productive members of society.
Not being able to participate actively in the community translates to
their losing out completely on benefitting from economic activity and
earning a decentincome. Many of these girls remain excluded from
community life, having been separated from peers and family members by
marriage. Depression sets in. A life of diminished opportunities. The
community loses out completely; the economy cannot improve where half
its population is stuck in this rut.
Child marriage, from available statistics, ultimately hampers the
efforts of these young adolescents from acquiring an education, as
sooner than later, they find it difficult to combine the onerous
responsibilities of being a wife and mother, with schooling. They drop
out, if they have not been removed for the purpose of marriage, in the
first place. Consequently, 70.8% of young women aged 20-29 in the North
West zone are unable to read or write. Due to the fact that these girls
are deprived so early of an education (including the access to
information and knowledge) they remain bereft of the purchasing power
necessary for an adequate diet, healthcare,skills, or even recourse to
support in emergencies, all of which would enable them rise above the
circumstances of abject poverty. It is paradoxical that Muslims like
Senator Yerima would rather their wives and daughters be treated by
female medical personnel if they fall ill, and yet they are, by
continuously advocating for child marriage, deliberately closing the
avenues for girls to aspire to such professions.
Deprivations of formal and non-formal education translate, at such an
early age, into restrictions on mobility, domestic burdens, the denial
of sundry freedoms in respect of survival, development and
participation, as well as the loss of adolescent years. Indeed, children
of young, uneducated mothers are also less likely to attain high levels
of education, perpetuating cycles of low literacy and limited
livelihood opportunities. Child marriage, therefore, ultimately deprives
societies of the intellectual and financial/livelihood contributions of
girls, and of their offspring. It is no wonder then that the North
continues to portray such poor ratings in almost all aspects of human
endeavour.
As a consequence, MDGs 1 (relating to eradicating extreme poverty and
hunger), 2 (on education), 4 (on reducing child mortality), 5 (on
maternal health), 6 (on combating diseases) remain unattainable goals
(at least in Northern Nigeria), if we cannot confront the consequences
and implications of child marriage. Evidently, the geography of poverty
requires a coherent and urgent Northern strategy and a solution to the
instability that has bedeviled the region in recent years. Against this
background of grim data, we can ill afford to play politics with the
obvious deficiencies in our human capital. The North, as an intrinsic
part of Nigeria needs to improve on all fronts, to impact positively on
Nigeria’s progress and support its growth. Since child marriage has all
these devastating and diminishing implications, surely checking the
increase in the practice can only trigger and catalyze positive growth,
in so many dimensions.
It is certainly not mandatory in Islam that girls must be married off as
minors, so to keep insisting that this practice must remain sacrosanct,
given the background of needs in Northern Nigeria, is incongruous, even
under the Shari’a. Where a practice is determined to be merely
permissible and not mandatory, it is considered practicable and entirely
feasible within Islamic jurisprudence, to discourage or prohibit it,
where it is found to be so harmful to individuals and to the community.
Countries such as Yemen, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Somalia and
Bangladesh, with majority or high Muslim populations have set a minimum
age for marriage as 18, in the acknowledgment that there are serious
social, physical and mental health risks associated with child
marriages. This progressive step became necessary, in that these
indisputable facts placed a heavy burden on the accountable and
God-fearing leadership in majority Muslim countries, to protect the
vulnerable in their midst.
It is, therefore, not unreasonable to expect that educated elite and
public figures such as Senator Yerima, being conscious of their grave
responsibilities to prohibit harm and to enjoin good in our own context,
should actually discourage this devaluing and belittling practice of
early marriage, in the public good, for the protection of the vulnerable
and the realization of social benefits. To enable our girls attain
their fullest possible potential is definitely a target that Senator
Yerima should also be working passionately towards, along with the rest
of Nigerians who yearn for a better future.
Indeed, the overriding objectives of the Sharia include the promotion of
human dignity, justice, compassion, the removal of hardship, the
prevention of harm, the realization of the lawful benefits of the
people, and the education of the individual by inculcating in him a
sense of self discipline and restraint, which aims are by no means
exclusive. All else may be adapted to achieve these ends, which measures
may encompass matters of concern not only to law but also to economic
development, administration and politics. For those that reflect, the
hardship that these little girls experience, where married off and
divorced soon after, so wantonly, is certainly unacceptable within the
faith.
Although the fundamentals of faith and the practical pillars on which
they stand remain immutable in principle, they may be interpreted and
justified at the level of implementation in the exercise of public good.
This process must of need be carried out solely by persons learned and
eminently qualified to speak on the subject matter in question. We must
always bear in mind that the ‘appropriation’ of divine authority in
religious interpretation is best left to Scholars learned in Islamic
legal philosophy and analytical reasoning. Having acquired the requisite
knowledge and expertise (including the capacity to weigh the various
views in the particular sphere of learning in the context of our times),
these Jurists would also need to have imbibed, at the barest minimum,
the attributes of humility, compassion, reflection, wisdom,
self-restraint, diligence, objectivity, along with piety. Our learned
Scholars must stand up and be heard, rather than remain silent on
matters that so adversely affect us as individuals, as a region, a
Nation and as members of a global community, which challenges
paradoxically controvert the deeper meaning and purpose of the Shari’a.
Back to the issue in contention, it is important to commend the thinking
behind the decision to delete the constitutional clause that seeks to
lumber even an ‘intellectually immature’ girl, where married, with the
grave responsibility of the power to renounce her citizenship, thereby
elevating the subject of citizenship to the level whereby both men and
women have similar responsibilities, without discrimination. It is hoped
that ultimately, members of the Senate would reflect deeply on the
implications of their recent action and revisit their decision to retain
the contentious clause, if only to ensure that every Nigerian citizen
of full age, without distinction, is subjected to similar standards and
responsibilities under the provisions of our Constitution.
Maryam Uwais (MFR), is Chairperson Isa Wali Empowerment Initiative, Kano.
Courtesy: Omojuwa.com
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