The British child brides: Muslim mosque leaders agree to marry girl of 12... so long as parents don't tell anyone



Two imams were prepared to officiate wedding of underage girl

More than 1,000 of the 8,000 forced marriages of Britons each year are believed to involve girls of 15 or under

British Muslim clerics are willing to carry out sharia marriages involving child brides as young as 12, an investigation has found.

Two imams said they would be prepared to officiate at the wedding of an underage girl to a man in his twenties, despite fears the pair would later have sex.

The revelations have led the Home Office to confirm that such ceremonies will be examined in the Government’s forthcoming Bill to outlaw forced marriages.



Secret marriages: Some Muslim religious leaders consent to marry a girl of 12 if she consents - and her parents keep it a secret (stock image)

Child bride: An Imam at the Husaini Islamic Centre in Peterborough agreed to the marriage of a 12-year-old girl - but only if she consented to the nuptials

More than 1,000 of the 8,000 forced marriages of Britons each year are believed to involve girls of 15 or under, with one case last year allegedly involving a girl of five.

The clerics were approached by man posing as the father of a 12-year-old who wanted her to marry to prevent her being tempted into a decadent Western lifestyle.



Imam Mohammed Kassamali, of the Husaini Islamic Centre in Peterborough, stressed the need for secrecy with such a ceremony.

He allegedly said: ‘If it (the marriage) was not possible, I would have told you straight away... I would love the girl to go to her husband’s houses (sic) as soon as possible, the younger the better.

‘Under sharia (Islamic law) there is no problem. It is said she should see her first sign of puberty at the house of her husband.

‘The problem is that we cannot explain such things (the marriage) if the girl went tomorrow (to the authorities).

‘The other thing is the underage thing and if tomorrow the girl is, let’s say coerced or forced into this, and she goes and reports it to the police then she will put all of us into the problems.’

Campaigners argue that children can't decide whether they want to be married (posed by model)

He also urged the father to encourage the newlyweds to ‘delay the togetherness’, meaning postpone having sex.

Abdul Haque, a retired imam who still officiates at weddings at Shoreditch mosque, East London, reportedly agreed to carry out the ceremony after evening prayers on Wednesday.

‘Tell people it is an engagement but it will be a marriage,’ he told an undercover Sunday Times reporter.

‘In Islam, once the girl reaches puberty the father has the right, the parents have the right, but under the laws of this country if the girl complains and says her marriage has been arranged and she wasn’t of marriageable age, then the person who performed the marriage will be jailed as well as the mother and father.’

He explained how the Prophet Muhammad had married a seven-year-old girl before adding: ‘We are his followers, and that is what you have to explain (to your daughter).’

It is not illegal for clerics to perform Islamic marriages, even when one or both of those marrying are under 16.

Such marriages are not recognised in British law, so civil formalities can take place only if both are over 16.

Islamic law allows a couple to have sex after marriage but, as the legal age of consent is 16, a husband can be prosecuted for rape if he has sex with an underage girl.

Secret: Another retired Imam - who worships at the Shoreditch Mosque in east London - was happy to marry a 12-year-old girl but only if her parents told no-one about it

The Forced Marriage Unit, set up in 2005, dealt with 1,468 cases last year with 205 involving children under the age of 15.

Farooq Murad, of the Muslim Council of Britain, said: ‘We are strongly opposed to it on the basis that it is illegal under the law of the land where we are living and even under sharia it is highly debatable.’

After being confronted, Kassamali said he would not have performed the marriage without the girl’s consent and would have sought legal advice. Haque declined to comment.