The President of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, issued a decree setting the age of marriage for both sexes to 18 years, except for specific cases by a decision of the competent court.

This decision comes after a series of discussions and requests from the Council of Ministers and so-called women's associations that are concerned with the rights of women as they claim, in order to walk in the path of secularism (devoid of the Deen) and to stay away from the rules of Islam and the law of Allah (swt). Previously, there were many manifestations such as allowing and even encouraging mixed parties, marathons, immoral singing and beauty competitions, interfering with the laws of inheritance and guardianship (Qiwama), and hundreds of seminars, meetings, articles, workshops and courses on the “seriousness of early marriage” or underage marriage as they call it.

All this and others were only in compliance with the orders of the West. As the Minister of Women's Affairs in the Palestinian Authority, Amal Hamad, said: "Marriage under the age of 18 contradicts international conventions (CEDAW) and cultural and social treaties and treaties of civil and political rights and with the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Child Law, which the previous Legislative Council passed, which considered the age of childhood until the age of 18." Hamad said that this step comes in the context of working to protect the social fabric and reduce cases of divorce in the community, which amounted to 50% for the group under 18 years.

Woe to you! How dare you transgress against the laws of Allah (saw), who says in the Noble Book:

[وَأَنْكِحُوا الْأَيَامَى مِنْكُمْ]

“And marry the unmarried among you” [An-Nur: 32].

The “Aiyim” is the unmarried woman. The evidences are general for each and every unmarried woman without specifying a certain age for marriage. So who do you think you are, to change Allah’s law and transgress against it?! Allah (swt) is the One who is Most Acquainted with His creations.

[أَلَا يَعْلَمُ مَنْ خَلَقَ وَهُوَ اللَّطِيفُ الْخَبِيرُ]

“Does He who created not know, while He is the Subtle, the Acquainted?” [Al-Mulk: 14].

How do you set the age of marriage at 18 years, and legislate a law contrary to Allah’s law, which made puberty a border between being accountable or not, with the caution that the girl can marry even before menstruation, according to the verse:

[وَاللَّائِي يَئِسْنَ مِنَ الْمَحِيضِ مِنْ نِسَائِكُمْ إِنِ ارْتَبْتُمْ فَعِدَّتُهُنَّ ثَلَاثَةُ أَشْهُرٍ وَاللَّائِي لَمْ يَحِضْنَ...]

“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” [At-Talaq: 4].

It means that a girl may marry before she is menstruating, and not only by attaining the age of Takleef (accountability). The numerous divorce cases that we see are not due to early age marriage. But for many reasons, the most important one is the incorrect upbringing of the girl. This does not make her capable of bearing the responsibility of her husband’s house and the children, because she was not raised to be a mother and a housewife, rather as a worker and competitive to man in the field of work!

O People of the Blessed land:

Islam did not force women to marry early, but it is permissible according to Islam. And to determine the age, in it is corruption and corrupting. You must reject this decision, which is a Western thought, and is an infringement on the law of Allah (swt), it spreads obscenity in societies, especially in light of openness and the era of freedoms and encouraging of relations outside the framework of marriage (fornication).

[إِنَّ الَّذِينَ يُحِبُّونَ أَن تَشِيعَ الْفَاحِشَةُ فِي الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لَهُمْ عَذَابٌ أَلِيمٌ فِي الدُّنْيَا وَالْآخِرَةِ وَاللَّهُ يَعْلَمُ وَأَنتُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ]

“Indeed, those who like that immorality should be spread [or publicized] among those who have believed will have a painful punishment in this world and the Hereafter. And Allah knows and you do not know.” [An-Nur: 19]