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Undercover Report Exposes Imam Offering Quranic Justification for Child Brides
Police in the Italian city of Brescia, shown above, have expelled a Pakistani imam who promoted the practice of child marriage.
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Italy has expelled an imam of Pakistani origin who sparked massive outrage after he was filmed in an undercover investigation citing the Qur’an as an endorsement for marrying girls at the age of nine.
On April 2, the Italian daily Il Giornale reported that Paolo Sartori, the police commissioner of Brescia, known as Italy’s Islamic “capital,” ordered the deportation of Ali Kashif, who told a reporter for the TV program Fuori dal Coro that girls can be married after their first period.
immediately expelled under Article 4, paragraph 3, of Italy’s Consolidated Law on Immigration. The law gives police the power to remove a foreigner who “is considered a threat to public order or the security of the State” or has been involved in sex-related crimes.
Brescia police also discovered that Kashif did not possess a valid residence permit to live in Italy and refused to issue him a new residence permit when the imam applied for the document.
Instead, Sartori ordered that Kashif be immediately escorted to Milan Malpensa Airport, where he was put on board the flight to Islamabad, with a stopover in Bangkok, accompanied by immigration officers.
Italy Gears Up to Introduce Legislation Against Islamist Separatism
The channel published its report on January 25, two days before the First Committee of the Chamber of Deputies in Italy’s bicameral parliament began examining Bill AC2562, which enforces stricter penalties for forced marriages and prohibits the issuance of certificates of virginity (except for health reasons).
The proposed legislation, introduced by Fratelli d’Italia (FD), the party headed by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, seeks to combat Islamist separatism by targeting foreign funding for mosques and seeking authority to close mosques preaching Islamist supremacy and hatred.
Focus on Western Islamism (FWI) reported in March that Kashif was caught on camera telling the reporter, “On the first (menstrual) cycle of life, (a woman) is an adult. After nine years, after 10 years, after 13 years, she is an adult. You can marry her. It is a tradition.” The camera crew filmed Kashif and other Muslims at two Islamic centers in Brescia: the Minhaj Ul Quran Islamic Center Cultural Association and the Al Noor Cultural Association.
“Even science tells us that a nine-year-old girl can get married. In Islam, a girl becomes an adult at age nine. The Qur’an says that it [the marriage] can be done,” he said. When asked if the child bride can marry a man who is 30 to 40 years old, the imam responds: “Yes, 30 to 40 years old.”
The imam, speaking in Urdu, insists that the girl must have begun her period. “The religion of Islam says if the parents are happy, the father and mother are happy and agree, then the marriage can take place.” When the interpreter says he has married a 13-year-old, a Muslim in the mosque commends him for it. “God doesn’t tell you that you cannot marry them. You can marry them. Here, the state prevents you,” he adds.
When asked for his opinion, another Muslim tells Leone, “If our Prophet married a 12-year-old girl, why can’t others do the same?”
Expert Explains How Islamic Texts Justify Child Brides
Giovanni Giacalone.
Speaking to FWI, Giovanni Giacalone, an Italian expert in terrorism and counterterrorism at the David Institute for Security Policy, commended “the excellent work of the Italian authorities, who acted swiftly to remove the individual in question from the country.”
“Such individuals legitimize horrendous practices because ‘Allah said so,’” Giacalone, a senior advisor for the Monitoring Jihadism Italy Project, warned. “They see women as objects, not only opposing our laws, but also human rights. It is their vision of ‘God’ against the State, which consequently makes their presence in Europe incompatible.”
The Islamic centers later clarified that the views endorsing child brides were not representative of the Muslim community in Brescia. “The Quran neither provides for nor legitimizes marriages with minors, nor does it force one to marry against one’s will,” they stated.
But Giacalone noted that the issue has been addressed by academics such as Professor Mashood Baderin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, who explained in a 2018 article: “The majority classical view, held by the Hanafī, Mālikī, Shāfi’ī, Hanbalī, and Ithnā Asharī schools of Islamic jurisprudence, is that marriage of minors is permissible and may be contracted by the father or guardian acting in the minor’s best interest. This is based on their interpretation of the three Qur’anic verses earlier cited (56:4; 24:32; 4:6).”
Baderin adds: “The nucleus of the classical majority view is that while marriage of minors is not the general norm under the Shari’ah, it may be necessary in the minor’s own interest and thus its permissibility under Islamic law. … There is a minority view held by classical jurists such as Abdullah Ibn Shubrumah al-Kūfī, and Abū Bakr Al-Asamm, that the marriage of minors is not lawful until majority (bulūgh).”
“This shows that the problem is serious, inherent to Islamic doctrine, and cannot be hastily reduced to individual ignorance and political exploitation,” Giacalone commented. “Meanwhile, the authorities are right to repatriate those who fail to comply with the law and fundamental human rights.”
