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🇹🇷 Turkey /Culture & Society

Religious figure with posts at TSE and Diyanet sparks backlash over distinction between religious marriage and civil marriage

From Cumhuriyet · () Turkish

Translated from Turkish and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources Context piece
  • Orhan Çeker, head of the Ehli Sünnet Âlimler Birliği, defended the religious permissibility of marrying girls as young as 3 to 5 and criticized opponents of child marriage.
  • He argued that a religious marriage contract has no age limit, while marriage requires an appropriate age and physical maturity.
  • Çeker also holds roles connected to Turkey’s Standards Institution and the Directorate of Religious Affairs, where he teaches or gives lectures on Islamic jurisprudence.

Orhan Çeker, a retired theologian who heads the Ehli Sünnet Âlimler Birliği, has drawn criticism with remarks about child marriage. He said marrying girls as young as 3 to 5 could not be described as pedophilia and argued that such a religious marriage could be permissible under Islam.

They say girls aged 3 to 5 are being married in Islam, and that this is pedophilia. How could that be?

· Orhan ÇekerÇeker rejected the characterization of child marriage as pedophilia while defending its religious permissibility.

Çeker also accused opponents of child marriage of distorting religious jurisprudence and creating discord. He said religious solemnization and marriage should not be treated as the same thing.

“The marriage contract, meaning the agreement formed through the parties’ declarations of intent before witnesses, has no age,” Çeker said. “Marriage has both an age requirement and conditions of physical maturity and suitability.”

If a person has bad intentions and a corrupt character, they misunderstand clear jurisprudential wording in the opposite way and create discord.

· Orhan ÇekerÇeker criticized people who oppose child marriage.

Çeker’s other roles have added to the controversy. He chairs the Academic Advisory Board for Halal Food at the Turkish Standards Institution and lectures on Islamic jurisprudence and contemporary issues for instructors, muftis and trainees at higher religious specialization and education centers affiliated with Turkey’s Directorate of Religious Affairs.

The marriage contract, meaning the agreement formed through the parties’ declarations of intent before witnesses, has no age.

· Orhan ÇekerÇeker distinguished a religious marriage contract from marriage and claimed the contract itself has no age limit.

The Ehli Sünnet Âlimler Birliği brings together retired religious officials from the Directorate of Religious Affairs, retired theology academics and religious figures from various communities. Its leadership also includes former Ardahan mufti Abdullah Cihangir, İsmailağa community figure Ömer Faruk Korkmaz and Muhammed Tayyip Elçi, head of the Medrese Âlimleri Foundation and chief instructor at the Suffe Madrasa.

Marriage has both an age requirement and conditions of physical maturity and suitability.

· Orhan ÇekerÇeker said marriage, unlike the religious contract, requires age and physical readiness.
About this summary

Originally published by Cumhuriyet in Turkish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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