Khyar-Ul-Bulugh And Its Role In Protecting Minors' Rights In Marriage Under Muslim Law

Aditee Singh, B.A.LL.B. (Hons.), Hidayatullah National Law University (HNLU), Raipur

ABSTRACT

The Islamic laws have protection of the rights of minors in the form of Khyar-ul-Bulugh aka `option of puberty` where minor can refuse the marriage that was entered into during minority. Sourced from early stages of Islamic shariah law, it embodies the greatest paradigms of justice, consent, and individualism. Though it equally applies to both sexes, different implementation procedures show discrimination between them, specifically minor girls as they are subjected to higher conditions. Still, the doctrine was demonstrated in case of Mustafa v. Smt. Khursida where the law holds that the minors have a claim to dissolve the marriage which has not been consummated before the attainment of puberty.

This paper reviews the historical, legal, and social aspects of the doctrine used in Egypt and other Arab countries, to describe how it functions as measure for translating between traditional Islamic family and child rearing standards and changing norms of child rights. It also ends on a pragmatic note urging the preservation of cultural culture, marriage and family as cultural values and with the regulation of marriageable age in harmony with emerging human rights instruments and advances in child’s best interest and self-determination.

Keywords: Khyar-ul-Bulugh, Minors' Rights, Muslim Marriage Law, Islamic Jurisprudence, Child Marriage, Legal Protections.