It was only after the Women and Democracy Association, a nongovernmental organization, released a statement questioning the fundamental premises of the amnesty bill that the government decided to re-examine its position. The Women and Democracy Association is a staunchly pro-A.K.P. organization whose deputy chairwoman is Sumeyye Erdogan Bayraktar, the daughter of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

But the Women and Democracy Association were not the only Islamists who spoke out. Female Islamist opinion writers, most of them typically supportive of the A.K.P. government, also took a stand against it. Sibel Eraslan, Ayse Bohurler, Fatma Barbarosoglu, all head-scarf-wearing columnists with some of Turkey’s biggest pro-government newspapers, opposed the government’s attempts to change marriage laws.

Ms. Barbarosoglu, a writer for the newspaper Yeni Safak, got to the heart of the matter when she noted that most conservatives who supported the bill were men, who were using religion. “Some conservative men persisted referring to the age of Aisha, with a copy-and-paste understanding,” she wrote, referring to one of the Prophet Muhammad’s wives who, according to most narratives, was 9 years old. The problem with these Muslim men, Ms. Barbarosoglu rightly pointed out, is that they are disregarding social change in the centuries since.

Yildiz Ramazanoglu, a female conservative columnist for the newspaper Karar, also opposed the bill and “those who utilize Islam to justify abuse of young girls.” According to her, it was in fact one of Islam’s revolutionary achievements “to grant women their dignity and free will.”

On Nov. 28, Turkey’s top cleric, Mehmet Gormez, also supported the progressive argument. “It is not possible to marry off a child who has not yet reached the age of being a mother,” he said, even if the parents consent. Marriage is a serious commitment, according to the Quran, he explained, which deserves full intellectual maturity — not just puberty.

Luckily, this story ended with a rare happy ending for now. Not only was the bill withdrawn, Parliament also voted to increase sentences for sexual abusers.

It’s possible a new bill on child marriage could come before the Parliament and the battle could resume. Still, the activism against the bill provided a valuable lesson. One of the most effective ways to address the scourge of statutory rape and child marriage in Turkey — and perhaps the broader Muslim world — may be to use Islamic arguments to show why they are inhumane and ill suited for today’s day and age.

The misogynists often justify their positions by referring to archaic interpretations of Islam, which is why we must work to revoke their monopoly on interpreting religion. Islam must be a part of the solution. The way forward is to emphasize that while Islam has eternal values, Islamic laws also in part reflect the norms of medieval societies — and as times change, laws should, too.