The Punch is one of the most popular newspapers in Nigeria. This Sunday features an inteview with Ishaq Akintola who is a professor of Islamic Eschatology and the Director of Muslim Rights Concern.

Is child marriage permitted in Islam, looking beyond the case of Ese Oruru? Ese Oruru is a 14 year old girl, kidnapped by a young man she met innocently, raped, forcibly converted to islam and now 5 months pregnant. Sound familiar?

Islam is a complete way of life. As a religion, non-Muslims will have to take Muslims as they are, not as they want them to be. Neither Muslims nor their religion should be judged according to other standards. There will never be any inter-religious understanding so long as non-Muslims continue to measure Muslims and their way of life by Christian, Buddhist or Confucianist yardsticks. The simple truth is: Islam has no age barrier in marriage and Muslims have no apology for those who refuse to accept this, particularly since 99.99 per cent of such marriages are conducted among Muslims themselves. If the man is a Muslim and the girl is also a Muslim and the girl’s parents give their approval, what is the business of any non-Muslim in that? It is sheer interference in the affair of Muslims and an attempt to exert undue influence on them. More often than not, those who interfere in this manner have ulterior motives. It is either for the purpose of smearing the image of Islam or to gain a comparative advantage and score a religious point (for their own faith of course).

We are not unaware of all these antics, yet we patiently endure them. Non-Muslims should therefore keep off Muslims’ affairs.