Shariah is an Arabic word meaning the road to be followed. Literary it means "the way to a watering place". It is the path not only leading to Allah, exalted is he but the path shown by Allah, the creator Himself, through His messenger, the Prophet Muhammad, pbuh. In Islam, Allah alone is sovereign and it is He who has the right to ordain a path for the guidance of mankind. Thus, it is only Shariah that liberates man from servitude to other than Allah. This is the only reason why Muslims are obliged to strive for impetration of this path, and no other path.

"Now We have set you O Prophet on the clear Way of faith. So follow it, and do not follow the desires of those who do not know the truth." (Holy Quran, 45:18)

The absolute knowledge which is required to lay down a path for human life is not possessed by any group of people.

The final aim of the Shariah is to establish justice. Allah says,

"Indeed, We sent Our messengers with clear proofs, and with them We sent down the Scripture and the balance of justice so that people may administer justice" (Holy Quran, 57:25)

Justice must be done equally and to all and sundry even if it is to be done against oneself, or one's parents or relatives. So, Shariah lays down a set of guiding principle to regulate human life in every aspect, rituals and worship, family and society, business transaction, crime and punishment, governance, and diplomacy. Shariah through this process aims at regulating the relationship of human being with Allah and with each other.

The Shariah there is explicit emphasis on the fact that Allah is the Lawgiver and the whole Ummah, the nation of Islam, is merely His trustee. It is because this principle the Ummah enjoys a derivative rule-making power and not an absolute law-creating prerogative. The derivation of the rules must be according to The Quran and Sunnah and must comply the principles of Shariah to achieve the objectives of Shariah.

The primary principle (maxims) of Shariah are:

1. Matters are determined according to intentions.

2. Certainty is not overruled by doubt.

3. Harm must be eliminated.

4. Hardship begets facility.

5. Custom is a basis for judgment.

The Objective of Sharia is to establish justice by ensuring:

1. The protection of religion.

2. The protection of the human life.

3. The protection of the intellect.

4. The protection of lineage of offspring.

5. The protection of wealth.

Allah created men and women for them to provide company for one another, love one another, procreate, and live in peace and tranquillity obeying the commands of Allah and the direction of His messenger, pbuh. Allah, exalted is He, says:

"And one of His signs is that He created for you spouses from among yourselves so that you may find comfort in them. And He has placed between you compassion and mercy. Surely in this are signs for people who reflect." (Holy Quran, 30:21)

Allah further says:

"And Allah has made for you spouses of your own kind, and given you through your spouses children and grandchildren.1 And He has granted you good, lawful provisions. Are they then faithful to falsehood and ungrateful for Allah's favours?" (Holy Quran, 16:72)

Celibacy is not considered virtue in Islam or taken as a means of getting closer to Allah as is done in other religions. The Prophet (pbuh) advised:

"Young men! Whoever of you is able to marry, should marry, for that will help him to lower his gaze and guard his private parts." (Al-Bukhari)

It means it will help his to be modesty and the Prophet (pbuh) referred modesty as a "part of Iman (faith)"

In order to achieve modesty and complete one's Iman marriage is prescribed in Islam.

The Islamic institution of marriage however has many other practical objectives besides satisfying need for love and tranquilly, biological procreation and modesty. They are:

1. A moral means of emotion and sexual gratification.

2. A mechanism of reduction tension.

3. Social placement of every human being.

4. A means of inter-family alliance and group solidarity.

5. An act of taqwa (piety).

6. A form of ibadah, i.e. worship of Allah and obedience of His messenger, pbuh.

A Muslim in general cannot marry outside of his faith. Allah is clear in the Quran:

"Do not marry polytheistic women until they believe; for a believing slave-woman is better than a free polytheist, even though she may look pleasant to you. And do not marry your women to polytheistic men until they believe, for a believing slave-man is better than a free polytheist, even though he may look pleasant to you. They invite you to the Fire while Allah invites you to Paradise and forgiveness by His grace. He makes His revelations clear to the people so perhaps they will be mindful." (Holy Quran, 2:221)

So, a believing slave is better in marriage even he/she is not attractive over a free and attractive man/woman.

Certain concession is made by the scholars based on the interpretation of the verses of The Quran and allowed Muslim men to marry if necessary pious women of the "people of the book" generally meaning Jews and Christian but they must be pious followers of the true teaching of Moses and true teaching of Jesus.

No such concession is granted for Muslim women to marry non-Muslim men. This is largely because if the women marry into a different religion and culture there is no way to guaranty the higher level of provisions, privileges and protections women enjoys within Islam.

It is worth mentioning that Islam is not the only religion that allow men to have multiple wives but Islam is the only religion that sets a cap on the number of wives a man can have. Many other major religions do not limit the number of wives for a man.

Allah allowed Muslim men to marry up to four wives to address certain societal conditions. This is not mandatory and not prescribed for every man. In fact, it is discouraged by means of strict conditions and warnings for the men who embark on multiple marriage. Because of these conditioned and warnings polygyny not widely practiced. By all global statistics Muslim men are overwhelmingly married to a single woman.

However, the reasons behind Islam allowing Men to marry multiple wives are:

1. Naturally the population of women is larger than the population of men (due to higher mortality rate of young men in general or doing dangerous job or war.) If all men got married there will be still many women who will not find a husband. Islam prescribes women to get married and have a fulfilling family life (albeit shared husband) with children to take care of her at the old age rather than being alone in this dangerous world or being subject to the risk of promiscuity.

2. If a wife is barren or cannot have intimacy due to illness then it is much better and dignified solution to allow the husband to lawfully marry other women to fulfil his needs and have children, while taking the same care for the first wife as he did before. This ensures the man do not fall into immorality and can satisfy his desire for children. At the same time no injustice is done to the first wife who retains her provisions with dignity and respect. If the situation was reversed and the man is barren or impotent, then the woman has right to divorce him and marry another man.

3. More relevant for previous generation and possibly still today in some society that we find situation like a woman who have no one to look after her, and she is unmarried or a widow whose husband has died, then it is best for her to be included in a household as a wife along with first wife of a man, so that he will keep her chaste and spend on her.

4. Marriage is an effective means of attaining societal cohesion and peace. Is has been used from the ancient times to bridge gaps between competing factions of society, strengthen a treaty between fighting parties etc. A provision for men to marry multiple wives allows for such measures to strengthen solidary among societies.

5. With the increasing elderly population and decline of overall population of the modern world, the moral and dignified way numbers can be increased through marriage, and the number of offspring gained through plural marriage will be greater than that achieved through marriage to one wife.

No. Although no specific age is mentioned in The Quran, Allah makes an indication to the appropriate age for marriage.

"Test the orphans until they reach a marriageable age. Then if you feel they are capable of sound judgment, return their wealth to them. And do not consume it wastefully and hastily before they grow up. If the guardian is well-off, they should not take compensation; but if the guardian is poor, let them take a reasonable provision. When you give orphans back their property, call in witnesses. And sufficient is Allah as a Reckoner." (Holy Quran 4:6)

In the above verse Allah explicitly mentioning "Age of Marriage" and at that age, if they have sound judgement they are considered responsible adults, who can handle their own finance. Majority of the Scholar's opinion is this is the age of puberty. There are also hadith reference that 15 years of age differentiate from child to adults which other scholars hold to be correct.

At this specific age of physical and mental maturity a person is considered as "Baligh" in Islam. In legal terminology, "Baligh" refers to a person who has reached maturity and has full responsibilities under the law. Legal theorists assign different ages and criteria for reaching this state for both males and females.

To be "Baligh" both mental and physical maturities are required. Physical maturity implies puberty. The puberty is defined as follows by Shaykh Ibn Uthaymeen (Sunni school of thought of Imam Ahmad ibn Hamble):

Puberty is reached with the occurrence of one of three things, namely:

1. Reaching the age of fifteen years.

2. Growth of pubic hair and other bodily growth.

3. Emission of maniy with desire when awake or asleep.

4. Menstruation (for women).

If one of these things occurs, then the individual has reached puberty. It is sometimes wrongly though that menstruation is a condition for women to be considered pubescents, which is not always the case. In many cases women can start menstruation much later or do not start at all, even after all other bodily signs of puberty appears. Medically this condition is called "Primary Amenorrhea". Women affected by this condition are still considered "Baligh" if other signs of puberty are evident.

So, from the criteria explained above there is no scope of child marriage in Islam.

However, Islam allows for a marriage contract to take place by the parents before the bride and/or groom reach maturity. But the consummation of this marriage must be after they both reach maturity (Baligh), consent to the marriage and able to settle the "meahr". This has been an age-old tradition of many parts of the world, especially Arabs. Also, in The Bible Lady Mary is mentioned to be engaged with Joseph the carpenter in same manner and the actual marriage takes place much later.

Nevertheless, Islam highly recommends early marriage, as soon as men and women are able, they should get married. This guards their chastity and moral wellbeing and makes an opportunity of a young and healthy family and a greater society altogether. It must be mentioned that no culture or religion that ever existed in any time of human history that did not recommend early marriage and encouraged delaying marriage without a reason. For example: the minimum allowed age of marriage for boys and girls according to Christian cannon law are 16 and 14 and in Jewish Halakah are 13 and 12. Many modern secular countries today set legal age for marriage as low as 13.

In Islam marriage can take place as soon as the man or woman has reached sexual and mental maturity regardless their age.

Yes, when necessary Muslim men and women can get a divorce from a non-functional marital relationship.

There can be times when it becomes difficult to continue a cordial relationship with one's spouse, when good advice does not work. When marriage becomes impossible, it may be better to separate amicably rather than drag on indefinitely, making the family home intolerable because in such circumstances the children are the first victims. In Islam marriage is a holy contract and any contract should be made to work but not forced to work when it becomes impossible. In such unavoidable situation divorce is permitted in Islamic Shariah.

However, divorce must be the last resort. Islam encourages reconciliation between spouses rather than severance of relations, but where good relation between spouses becomes distinctly impossible, Islam does not keep them, their children and their extended families tied to a painful situation, the solution, divorce being greatly despised.

The Prophet (pbuh) said:

"To Allah, mighty is He and majestic, the most hateful of the halal is divorce." (Abu Dawud)

Marriage in the Islamic context is a means of tranquillity, protection, peace, and comfort. Abuse of any kind is in conflict to the principles of marriage. Any justification of abuse is in opposition to what Allah has revealed and the example of prophet Muhammad (pbuh).

Under no circumstances is violence against women encouraged or allowed in Islam. There are many examples in The Quran and Hadith that describes the behaviour of Muslims towards husband and wife. The relationship should be one of mutual love, respect, and kindness. Allah says in Quran,

"O believers treat women with kindness even if you dislike them; it is quite possible that you dislike something which Allah might yet make a source of abundant good" (Holy Quran 4:19)

The biographies of the prophet Muhammad (pbuh) record him as never having hit a woman or even a child. Also, Ayesha reported, The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said,

"The best of you are the best to their families, and I am the best to my family." (Sunan Ibn Majah).

Thus, domestic violence and spousal abuse violate Islamic principles of security, safety, and respect for human dignity; if severe enough, they may even violate the principle of respect for life. According to classical Islamic law, spousal abuse, even if non-physical, is grounds for a Muslim woman to initiate divorce.

This rule applies when children inherit from their parents. This does not mean women always inherit less than the men. In complex distribution of Islamic inheritance, in many cases women inherit just the equal to men. For example:

1. Father and mother inherits equal share from a deceased son if the deceased son don't leave behind any children.

2. If a man does not leave any parents or children then his maternal bother and sisters get equal share of one third of the total.

Giving inheritance to women was extraordinarily generous in a society and time when women were considered subhuman and did not have any right to own property or inheritance. Islam is the only major religion whose divine scripter explicitly allows inheritance to women. Other nations or religions in modern world has to codify additional law to provide inheritance to women, which is limited to the boundary of a country or the agreeing denominations.

In general men do inherit more than the women, but close examination of the elaborate and complex Islamic inheritance law makes it clear that the provision of the inheritance is not based on the gender, rather based on the responsibilities assigned to the person. Allah never grants any provision without assigning appropriate responsibilities with it. The additional provision allocated for the men is to compensate for the extra fantastical obligation and responsibilities assigned to them. For example, the mem are legally obligated to take care of their elderly parents, providing them accommodation, food and clothing, medication etc. as long as they are live. The mem also has to pay the "Mehar" or "dower" to their brides and pay for the marriage reception. The men are completely responsible for all living expenditure of the family including wife and children and cannot demand any part of it to be carried out by his wife. Moreover, if any sister of the man becomes insolvent without a husband or any other support, then it is the man's responsibility to cater for his sister and her children. The woman on the other hand has none of these binding responsibilities, rather she is always at the receiving end for her living expenditure, inheritance, and dower.

Allah, the most just, out of His infinite wisdom has compensated men with some additional provision from their inheritance.