Emir Of Kano: Muslims Must Rethink The Consequences Of Early Marriage

The Emir of Kano, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi has decried the reproductive health challenges that women undergo as a result of early marriage.

The Emir in an Instagram post on Saturday called on the Muslim community to rethink the idea of giving out their daughters in marriage at a tender age with the belief that their husbands will wait until she’s matured before having sexual relations with her. He described such belief as mere deception.

He also advised that Muslims should recognise the economic hardship of current times and make sure that relects on the number of wives they marry and the number of children they bear.

The Emir wrote:

“(Marriage of women below 18 years) – Women are suffering from reproductive health challenges were products of such marriages. Time had come when the Muslim community should live by the reality of economic recession and consequences of early marriage.

“The era when people gave out their daughters in marriage at early ages and asked the husbands to wait till they were ripe was nothing but a deception. According to me, strategy no longer worked as it had led to cases of divorce and other ugly situations.

“In the past the rich and the poor married four wives and bore between 30 and 40children because the economy was not only buoyant but also because people were not relying on government for sustenance.

Though the harsh economic realities now make it impossible for people to feed twice a day these days, “Unfortunately our people do not change and somebody with virtually nothing still give birth to 20 or 30 children and this must stop”.

“There was a need to peg the marriage age now because of the challenges early marriage was posing. The marriage age in Egypt at present was 18 while that of Malaysia and Morocco were 19 and 17 respectively, asking “Why not we here urgently call for pegging of marriage ages within Muslim Ummah in Nigeria?”

 Nigerian Muslims also practice the Malikiyas School of thought as these countries, “We should follow suit and peg our own marriage ages for our own good”.

“I urge the relevant authorities to create a law that would punish anybody that gave birth to children and allowed them to suffer. Most of those neglected children not only turned victims of social vices but also engage in terrorism. – Muhammadu Sanusi II