A petition has been filed in the Federal Shariat Court challenging the constitutionality and Islamic validity of the recently introduced Child Marriage Restraint Bill 2025, which sets the legal minimum age of marriage for girls at 18 years.
The petition was submitted by citizen Shehzada Adnan through his legal counsel, Advocate Mudassar Chaudhry, naming the Ministry of Interior and its secretary as respondents in the case.
In the plea, the petitioner argued that the new law contradicts Islamic teachings, claiming it was enacted against the injunctions of the Holy Quran, Sunnah and Hadith. The petition cites multiple Quranic verses in support of its position and asserts that the legislation violates the principles laid down in Islamic jurisprudence.
The petitioner further contended that the punishment outlined in the law — imprisonment with hard labour — is also unconstitutional and un-Islamic, calling it an excessive penalty for an act that he believes does not conflict with Islamic principles.
“The state has no right to criminalize what is not forbidden in Islam. The imposition of harsh punishments and legal restrictions on marriage violates the religious rights of citizens,” the petition stated.
The petitioner urged the Federal Shariat Court to declare the Child Marriage Restraint Bill 2025 null and void, and to issue a restraining order preventing law enforcement agencies from registering cases under the challenged law.
On May 30, President Asif Ali Zardari had officially signed into law the Islamabad Capital Territory Child Marriage Restraint Bill, 2025, a landmark piece of legislation aimed at curbing child marriage in the federal capital.
Meanwhile, the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) had rejected the ban on underage marriage, declaring it contrary to Islamic principles.
A statement issued after a meeting chaired by CII Chairman Raghib Hussain Naeemi last month stated that the ‘Prohibition of Underage Marriage Bill’, introduced by PPP MNA Sharmila Faruqui, was deemed un-Islamic. The council said that setting a legal age limit for marriage contradicts Sharia, and described the bill’s other provisions, including punishments for underage marriage, as also inconsistent with Islamic teachings.
The council further rejected the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government’s ‘Ban on Marriage of Children Bill 2025’, reiterating that declaring marriage under the age of 18 as abuse is not in line with Islamic injunctions. The council emphasized that the bill was not sent to it for review by parliament or the Senate before being proposed.
