Ages of Grooms and Brides

2-9-2002 | IslamWeb

Question:

Can any man whose age is 32 marry with 17 or 18 years old girl (I mean, according to Islam, is it better for him to marry with 28 year old woman or one17 years old)?
Answer:

All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam ( may Allaah exalt his mention ) is His slave and Messenger.

It is lawful for a man to marry the woman he likes provided she is not among those forbidden to him by Quran regardless of her age. It is known that the Prophet sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam ( may Allaah exalt his mention ) married Khadeedjah may Allaah be pleased with her who was much older than he and he married ‘Aa’ishah may Allaah be pleased with her who was much younger than he.
So, the act of the Prophet sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam ( may Allaah exalt his mention ) is an evidence that both cases are permissible.

However, the Prophet sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam ( may Allaah exalt his mention ) urged men to marry virgin girls. He said: “Why have you not married a virgin, so that you may play with her and she may play with you?” [Al-Bukhari and Muslim]

To conclude, the age difference has no weight in the Sharee’ah.

Allah knows best.

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