Islamabad High Court has allowed a 15 -year -old girl to live with her husband. The court said in the 24 -page judgment that according to Sharia, the marriage of a minor is not considered invalid, but according to the law, it is a crime. According to Sharia, if the girl becomes an adult and marries on her own, then the marriage is considered valid. But Islamabad Child Marriage Restrant Act 2025 clearly says that marriage is a crime under 18 years of age.
On the other hand, Maulana Mamunul Haq, leader of the Khilafat Majlis of Bangladesh, said in an interview that 70% to 80% of the people of the country wanted Sharia rule. Maulana cited the survey of the National Consent Commission for this. However, the consent commission denied this and said that there was no question related to Sharia law in the survey.
Maulana later admitted that he accidentally called the survey conducted by the ‘Resolution Network’ in 2017 as a survey of the National Consent Commission. After gaining power in August 2021, the Taliban implemented Sharia law in Afghanistan as per its interpretation. This includes public hanging, hand and leg cutting and whipping.
The reason for Sharia’s support?
Now the question is why the support of Sharia law is getting in Bangladesh and Pakistan. Many times political parties use it to strengthen their hold in power or get public support. Many times this issue is raised to take political advantage.
Both countries have economic, social and political challenges, due to which many people want change. At the same time, some groups consider it to be religious identity and a way of maintaining morality in the society. However, there is also a very large class that considers it a threat to modern law and human rights.
What is Sharia law?
Sharia law can be called Islamic law. This is actually a theory taken from the words (Hadith) of Prophet Muhammad Saheb, his actions (Sunnah) and Quran. These principles conduct various aspects of life. This law is fully applicable in some Muslim countries of the world, so it is partially applied in many Muslim dominated countries. In most Muslim countries, Sharia law is applied only in individual cases such as marriage and heritage. The rest of the citizens and laws made by governments on criminal issues apply.
How many countries are applicable Sharia law?
There are laws in about 50 Muslim-bound countries of the world that refer to Sharia, but they can be divided into three categories. In the first category, there are countries like Saudi Arabia, Iran, Sudan and Afghanistan where Sharia law is strictly implemented and it is the highest law. There are about 7 to 10 countries in total. These include Yemen, Mauritania and Brunei.
The second category has countries like Pakistan, Egypt, Iraq, Syria, Nigeria, Algeria, Morocco, Indonesia and Malaysia. Where Sharia applies only in individual matters (marriage, divorce, heritage), while in other cases civil law runs.
In the third category, there are countries like India, Thailand, Philippines and Singapore where Sharia is limited in certain cases only in certain cases. In the modern era, most Muslim countries have adopted European legal systems and Sharia is limited to personal laws.
