Abstract:
Defining the age of marriage has been a controversial issue in Sri Lanka because of
the feminist’s lobby. However, Islam explicitly establishes maturity as the dividing
line to define the majority and minority while the man-made laws worldwide
consider diverse ages according to traditional, cultural, ethnic, and geographical
diversity. Thus, this study aims to analyse the discourses on defining the minimum
age of marriage in the MMDA (Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act) of Sri Lanka.
Subsequently, it explores the opinions of the classical and modern jurists as well as
the discourses between the All-Ceylon Jam-e-athul Ulama and the women activists
in Sri Lanka based on the data collected by the expert interviews and the secondary
data. Consequently, this study endeavors to enlighten the Islamic perspective on
defining the age of marriage to bridge the gap between the jurists and the feminists.
