January 30, 2019
In its newly released report, the Global Fatwa Index (GFI), affiliated to Egypt's Dar al-Ifta and General Secretariat for Fatwa Authorities Worldwide, confirmed that 90% of Fatwas issued by extremist groups permit child marriage and frame it as a means for satisfying sexual needs.

The GFI surveyed and analyzed (2500) Fatwas issued by major religious sects worldwide and concluded that 13% of the Fatwas sample permit child marriage. The report clarified that extremist groups are possessed by the issue of child marriage in order to gratify their suppressed sexual desires.

Extremist groups and others who permit child marriage base their opinion on decontextualized evidence from Quran and Sunnah while disregarding that Fatwas change according to time, place, people and traditions.

The report concluded that the main reasons behind the widespread of child marriage phenomenon relate to ignorance, poverty and erroneous inherited traditions and recommended drafting laws to criminalize it.