ISLAMABAD: The Jamiat Ule­ma-i-Islam (JUI-F) has approached the Federal Shariat Court (FSC), challenging the constitutional vali­dity of the Islamabad Capital Terri­tory Child Marriage Restraint Act, 2025 and seeking a declaration that certain provisions of the law are repugnant to the Holy Quran and Sunnah (PBUH).

Filed under Article 203D, read with Article 227 of the Constitution, the petition argued that the law’s definition of a “child” as a person un­­der 18 years of age conflicts with the Islamic concept of puberty (bulugh) as the threshold for marriageability.

Senior counsel Kamran Murtaza filed the petition in June, seeking a declaration that the Act is inconsistent with Islamic jurisprudence on multiple grounds. The petition recalled that the FSC had on March 6, 2023 dismissed the Ali Azhar case, in which Section 2(a) of the Sindh Child Marriages Restraint Act, 2013 was challenged. The court rejected the case, holding that fixing the minimum marriage age at 18 is not repugnant to the injunctions of Islam.

The fresh petition argued that while the 2023 judgement was motivated by concern for the welfare of children and the importance of education, it proceeded per incuriam by relying heavily on the concept of Rushd (mental maturity) as a precondition for marriage, citing Verse 6 of Surah An-Nisa.

However, the petition contended that classical Islamic jurisprudence, including the authoritative position of Imam Abu Hanifa, whom the judgement itself cited, has never regarded Rushd as a precondition for the validity of nikah. Rather, it argued, Rushd is a prerequisite for the transfer of property to an orphan, not for the permissibility of marriage, and that the judgement conflated two distinct Quranic injunctions concerning different matters.

The petition asked the FSC to overrule, or hold per incuriam, the reasoning in the 2023 Ali Azhar case to the extent that it conflated the Quranic concept of Rushd with a criterion for marriageability.

It further argued that the judgement relied on Masalih Mursalah and Sadd al-Dara’i to override the established Sunnah practice of marriage after bulugh without engaging with the classical Hanafi doctrine.

The petition requested the FSC to declare Section 2(a) of the ICT Child Marriage Restraint Act, 2025 repugnant to the Quran and Sunnah to the extent that it classified pubescent persons (those who have attained bulugh) as “children” incapable of contracting nikah.

It also sought a directive for the federal government to amend the definition of “child” to exclude persons who have attained puberty (bulugh), as established by physical signs or, in the absence of such signs, by the age of 15 years in accordance with the Hanafi school.

The petition requested the FSC to direct the federal government to incorporate a judicial exception mechanism into the Act, modelled on the legislative practices of Jordan, Mala­ysia, Egypt and Tunisia, as approved by the FSC in PLD 2022. Under such a mechanism, parties seeking to contract a marriage below the age of 18 could approach a competent court for permission upon demonstrating genuine exceptional circumstances, including attainment of puberty (bulugh) and financial capacity.

The petition also sought a declaration that Section 4 of the Act, insofar as it imposes a mandatory minimum sentence of two years’ rigorous imprisonment without judicial discretion to consider the circumstances of a case, is repugnant to the Islamic principles of ta’zir (discretionary punishment) and adl (justice). It asked the court to direct the federal government to amend the provision to allow judicial discretion in sentencing within the prescribed range.

It further requested the FSC to declare Section 5 of the Act repugnant to the Holy Quran and Sunnah of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) to the extent that it classifies consensual cohabitation within a valid nikah as “child abuse” and imposes a mandatory minimum sentence of five years’ imprisonment.

Published in Dawn, July 8th, 2026