Stopping Child Marriage in Sudan: An Islamic Call to Protect Our Daughters

Child marriage in Sudan remains a pressing challenge. In many regions, girls are still being married before they are physically, mentally and emotionally ready for married life. At the same time, Sudanese citizens, activists and people of knowledge are raising their voices and protesting harmful practices that place our girls at risk. As Muslims who commit ourselves to the Qur’an and to the Sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ upon the understanding of the Salaf-us-Saliheen, we must ask: what does our religion require from us in such a situation?

This article provides an Islamic, text-based and community-oriented answer. It shows that protecting girls from harmful early marriage is not an imitation of Western ideals but rather a return to the mercy and justice of Islam.

1. The Current Situation in Sudan

Multiple assessments have shown that the rate of girls married before the age of 18 in Sudan remains high, especially in rural areas, conflict-affected zones and poorer communities. See for example MRWF: Get Involved for the kind of community mobilisation we promote. Also see Girls Not Brides: Sudan country profile, which notes that poverty, social pressure and harmful cultural traditions continue to drive the practice.

Other research, such as the work compiled by the Chr. Michelsen Institute on Sudanese harmful practices (CMI: Interventions for the abandonment of child marriage), confirms that early marriage often happens in families who fear poverty, want to protect “honour” or who are following local custom rather than following the balanced fiqh of Islam.

In 2020, Sudanese authorities publicly stated their intention to curb harmful practices such as female genital mutilation and to act against child marriage, but implementation and community change remain weak. See for example The Guardian: Sudan says it will stamp out child marriage. This means we still need a strong dawah-based, Shari’ah-based community effort.

2. Islamic Principles That Must Guide Us

When we examine the Qur’an and authentic Sunnah and the way of the early generations, we find several principles that are vital to this subject.

a. Consent is required

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:

This shows that marriage in Islam is not simply something that is done to a girl, but something in which she participates. This requires that she has enough understanding, maturity and calmness to give meaningful permission. A very young girl who does not even grasp what marriage is cannot give that kind of consent.

b. Maturity and sound judgement

Allah says:

This ayah links the idea of “reaching marriageable age” with “having sound judgement.” The scholars pointed out that nikah is a serious contract, and contracts require rushd, the ability to make correct decisions. If our daughter is not yet capable of understanding the responsibilities of married life, then marrying her off will contradict the spirit of this ayah.

c. No compulsion, no harm

Allah the Exalted says:

If it is not allowed to take a grown woman and control her future without her will, then how can we take a minor girl and hand her to a husband without true will, understanding or readiness? This clashes with the Maqasid of the Shari’ah, which include protecting life, intellect, lineage and honour.

3. Why Harmful Child Marriage Must Be Reformed

What is happening on the ground in parts of Sudan is not the careful, welfare-based marriage that some jurists discussed in theory. What is happening is often:

• Marriage of a girl far below 18 in a context of poverty, displacement or conflict;
• Stopping her education and cutting off her chances of becoming a productive believer;
• Exposing her to early pregnancy and birth complications;
• Putting her in a home where she has little or no say.

Medical and humanitarian reports from Sudan and the Horn of Africa show the real harm of early pregnancy and the disruption of girls’ schooling. See for instance ReliefWeb: girls, child marriage and education in Sudan. If a practice produces repeated, predictable harm, then it is not correct to present it as a Sunnah-based practice. Rather, the Shari’ah gives us the tools to remove or limit harm.

4. What Our Scholars and Leaders in Sudan Can Do

In line with the way of the Salaf, reform begins with da’wah, knowledge and wise leadership. We suggest the following steps for Sudanese ulama, imams, community leaders, women leaders, youth leaders and Islamic organisations:

• Teach the people that marriage requires consent, maturity and ability. Use the authentic ahadith and the verses above. Make it clear that forcing a child is not from the Sunnah.
• Support legal measures that raise the age of marriage and that require a judge or registrar to make sure the girl is mature and agreeable. Sudan has already announced steps in this direction; Muslims should help complete and apply them.
• Protect the poor families with economic and educational programs so they do not feel compelled to marry off their daughters.
• Build safe paths for girls who were already forced into early marriage, including counselling, mediation and protection.
• Speak clearly in the khutbahs that Islam came to honour women, not to reduce them to transactions. Remind the people of the hadith: “The best of you are those who are best to their women.”

5. Marriage in Islam is Tranquillity, Not Trauma

Allah says:

How can a 12 or 13 year old girl, not yet formed in mind and emotion, become a source of sakinah for her husband? And how can she receive sakinah from him if she was afraid, pressured or unaware? This is why protecting our daughters from harmful early marriage is actually protecting the Qur’anic purpose of marriage.