Editing Child marriage (section)

====Islam====
In classical [[Sharia|Islamic law]], suitability for marital relations is conditional on physical maturity (''bulugh'') and mental maturity (''rushd''). Classical jurists did not stipulate a minimum marriageable age because they did not believe that maturity is reached by everyone at a specific age.<ref name="Watt">{{harvnb|Watt|1960}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Spellberg|1996|p=40}}</ref><ref name="ReferenceA"/><ref name="Nour child marriage"/><ref>{{harvnb|Barlas|2002|pp=125–126}}</ref> Büchler and Schlater observe that "marriageable age according to classical Islamic law coincides with the occurrence of puberty. The notion of puberty refers to signs of physical maturity such as the emission of semen or the onset of menstruation". Traditional schools of Islamic jurisprudence ([[madhaahib]]) define the age of full legal capacity to enter marriage as follows:<ref name=buchler-schlater>{{cite journal |url=http://www.zora.uzh.ch/78204/1/Beitrag_Buechler_Schlatter_final.pdf |title=Marriage Age in Islamic and Contemporary Muslim Family Laws: A Comparative Survey |last1=Büchler |first1=Andrea |last2=Schlatter |first2=Christina |journal=Electronic Journal of Islamic and Middle Eastern Law |volume=1 |issn=1664-5707 |year=2013 }}</ref>
{| class="wikitable sortable" 60%;
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! !! Male age !! Female age !! Notes
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| [[Shafi'i]]||align=center|15||align=center|15||
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| [[Hanbali]]||align=center|15||align=center|15||
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| [[Maliki]]||align=center|17||align=center|17||
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| [[Hanafi]]||align=center|12–18||align=center|9–17||Marriageable age is whenever the person reaches puberty, which may vary from person to person. Listed ages are when Hanafis presume puberty occurs in males and females.<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://www.zora.uzh.ch/78204/1/Beitrag_Buechler_Schlatter_final.pdf |title=Marriage Age in Islamic and Contemporary Muslim Family Laws: A Comparative Survey |last1=Büchler |first1=Andrea |last2=Schlatter |first2=Christina |journal=Electronic Journal of Islamic and Middle Eastern Law |volume=1 |issn=1664-5707 |year=2013|quote=Marriageable age according to classical Islamic law coincides with the occurrence of puberty. The notion of puberty refers to signs of physical maturity such as the emission of semen or the onset of menstruation. In the absence of such signs, the Hanafi school assumes that puberty will occur no later than at eighteen years for males and seventeen years for females}}</ref>
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| [[Ja'fari jurisprudence|Jafari]]||align=center|15||align=center|9||[[Shia]]
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According to Büchler and Schlater, while marriageable age is not the same as the legal majority under civil law, these age limits may correspond.<ref name=buchler-schlater/>

The 1917 codification of Islamic family law in the [[Ottoman Empire]] distinguished between the age of competence for marriage, which was set at 18 for boys and 17 for girls, and the minimum age for marriage, which followed the traditional Hanafi ages of the legal majority of 12 for boys and 9 for girls. Marriage below the age of competence was permissible only if proof of sexual maturity was accepted in court, while marriage under the minimum age was forbidden. During the 20th century, most countries in the Middle East followed the Ottoman precedent in defining the age of competence, while raising the minimum age to 15 or 16 for boys and 13–16 for girls. Marriage below the age of competence is subject to approval by a judge and the legal guardian of the adolescent. Egypt diverged from this pattern by setting the age limits of 18 for boys and 16 for girls, without a distinction between competence for marriage and minimum age.<ref name=EI2-8-29>{{Cite encyclopedia|author1=Schacht, J.|author2= Layish, A.|author3= Shaham, R.|author4= Ansari, Ghaus|author5= Otto, J.M.|author6= Pompe, S.|author7= Knappert, J. |author8=Boyd, Jean| year=1995 | title=Nikāḥ|encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia of Islam| edition=2nd|publisher=Brill |editor1=P. Bearman|editor2= Th. Bianquis|editor3= C.E. Bosworth|editor4= E. van Donzel|editor5= W.P. Heinrichs|volume=8|page=29}}</ref> In 2020, Saudi Arabia officially banned all marriages under the age of 18.<ref name=":8">{{cite web|url=https://www.thenational.ae/world/gcc/saudi-arabia-moves-to-ban-child-marriage-with-a-new-ruling-1.955310|title=Saudi Arabia moves to ban child marriage with a new ruling|website=The National|date=24 December 2019|language=en|access-date=2020-02-15}}</ref> The push to ban child marriage was initially opposed by senior clergy, who argued that a woman reaches adulthood at puberty.<ref name=thenational>{{cite news|title=Saudi push to end child marriages|newspaper=The National|author=Wael Mahdi|date=1 July 2009|url=https://www.thenational.ae/world/mena/saudi-push-to-end-child-marriages-1.541430}}</ref> However, by 2019 the [[Saudi Shura Council]] had outlawed marriages under the age of 15 and required court approval for those under 18.<ref name=":7">{{cite web|url=https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/1540156/saudi-arabia-introduces-new-regulations-early-marriage|title=Saudi Arabia Introduces New Regulations for Early Marriage|last=Al Khataf|first=Iman|website=Asharq Al-aswat}}</ref>