June 17. On this date in 1954, Shoghi Effendi stated"There is no specific minimum age mentioned in the Bahá'í teachings at which girls may marry." He noted "In dealing with people who are still backward in relation to our civilized standards...we must not be too strict in enforcing our opinions on peoples still living in primitive social orders."

 

June 17. On this date in 1954, Shoghi Effendi stated"There is no specific minimum age mentioned in the Bahá'í teachings at which girls may marry." He noted "In dealing with people who are still backward in relation to our civilized standards...we must not be too strict in enforcing our opinions on peoples still living in primitive social orders."

Reconciliation of Apparent Contradictions in the Bahá'í Writings

3. Minimum Age of Marriage

QUESTION: In a treatise in Persian on various questions, the age of maturity hath been set at fifteen; is marriage likewise conditional upon the reaching of maturity, or is it permissible before that time?

ANSWER: Since the consent of both parties is required in the Book of God, and since, before maturity, their consent or lack of it cannot be ascertained, marriage is therefore conditional upon reaching the age of maturity, and is not permissible before that time. (Question and Answer 92)

Citing the text quoted above, Mr. ___ asks how one can reconcile the following statement in a letter of 17 June 1954 written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to a National Spiritual Assembly that "There is no specific minimum age mentioned in the Bahá'í teachings at which girls may marry":

In dealing with people who are still backward in relation to our civilized standards, and in many cases guided by a tribal system which has strong orders of its own, he feels that you should be both tactful and forbearing. There is no specific minimum age mentioned in the Bahá'í teachings at which girls may marry. In the future, this and other questions unspecified will be dealt with by the International House of Justice. In the mean time, we must not be too strict in enforcing our opinions on peoples still living in primitive social orders.

In response to a similar question about the quotation above, the Universal House of Justice in a letter of 25 October 1984 written on its behalf to a National Spiritual Assembly provides the following elucidation:

What is not specified in the texts, in connection with the question of the age at which girls may marry, is the degree to which the Bahá'í law on this point, and other similar points, is to be applied at this time, if and when it conflicts with the requirements of an established tribal system which has what is described in the above passage as "strong orders of its own". Such questions are to be referred to the Universal House of Justice, and, in the interim, the Guardian did not want the friends to be "too strict" in such matters.

When Shoghi Effendi's statement is read in this light, it is not in conflict with what has been outlined in the "Synopsis and Codification of the Laws and Ordinances of the Kitáb-i-Aqdas".