The Ruling on Age Equality Between Spouses
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
This questioner says: Is it necessary for the young man and the young woman to be of the same age in marriage? Because some young men hesitate to marry a righteous, God-fearing woman if she is a few years older than them, so they leave her.
Answer:
There is no specific age for marriage. Does a man marry when he reaches puberty, or before that as well? If he marries before puberty, there is no harm. Likewise, if a girl is married before puberty, there is no harm with that, or after puberty. No specific age has been determined for marriage. It is permissible for an older man to marry a younger woman, and it is permissible for a younger woman to marry an older man. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) married Khadijah, and she was older than him, older than him by years, and he married her (peace and blessings be upon him). So there is no harm in that. One who sets a specific age for marriage is considered to be contradicting the Shari'ah and restricting what Allah the Exalted has made permissible, and it hinders marriage. We follow what is in the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). Yes.
The presenter:
May Allah reward you.
This questioner says: Is it necessary for the young man and the young woman to be of the same age in marriage? Because some young men hesitate to marry a righteous, God-fearing woman if she is a few years older than them, so they leave her.
Answer:
There is no specific age for marriage. Does a man marry when he reaches puberty, or before that as well? If he marries before puberty, there is no harm. Likewise, if a girl is married before puberty, there is no harm with that, or after puberty. No specific age has been determined for marriage. It is permissible for an older man to marry a younger woman, and it is permissible for a younger woman to marry an older man. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) married Khadijah, and she was older than him, older than him by years, and he married her (peace and blessings be upon him). So there is no harm in that. One who sets a specific age for marriage is considered to be contradicting the Shari'ah and restricting what Allah the Exalted has made permissible, and it hinders marriage. We follow what is in the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). Yes.
The presenter:
May Allah reward you.
Source
نور على الدرب - الفوزان - 03/004 — archive.org (13:52)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.