Marriage is first and foremost an economic contract. This is also expressed by the maxim: “Romance without finance ain’t got a chance.” In a traditional economy, children are an essential form of wealth, and begin to contribute economically at a young age. For most of history, the household was a major center of production— in Greek, “economy” literally means “house management.”

Delaying marriage is a luxury. Since producing children has economic value, every year that marriage is delayed represents lost potential. This is visible in the patterns of legal norms around marriage age among the Romans. The legal marriage age in the Roman empire was 12. When the empire collapsed and the economic situation became more difficult, this age was lowered. Gratius, a medieval Christian legal scholar, set the limit by saying that if a male older than 7 years old cohabited with a prepubescent female under 7 years old, this would be inappropriate.

This was largely a function of the economic times. The decadence of the late Roman empire led to centuries of famine and plagues across Europe as imperial infrastructure disintegrated. This only began to change with colonialism and industrialization. At this time, the factory started to replace the household as the center of production. As production progressively moved out of the household, families and children became increasingly expendable.

The fact that modern lifestyles and norms of production are very unsustainable points to the wisdom of marrying early. Neo-Roman culture, which has now evolved into a world system led by Europe and America, is repeating the pattern of decadence and collapse that led to the fall of the Roman empire. Islam, on the contrary, leads to a system of life that is in balance and harmony with the earth and nature.

Amr ibn al ‘As, radhi Allahu anhu, married at the age of 11. His first son was born when he was 12. And of course it is well known that A’isha, radhi Allahu anha, was married at the age of 7 and began to cohabit with the Prophet ﷺ at the age of 9. There is spiritual benefit to following this example, because it brings us closer to the lifestyle of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and his companions, radhi Allahu anhum, but there are also benefits on many other levels.

Early years are very formative, so if someone marries at a young age, they grow and mature with their partner. Their personality is shaped by the relationship on a fundamental level, which makes the marriage much stronger and more likely to last. Bonding hormones are much stronger in early puberty, which is why boys and girls are prone to fall wildly in love shortly after puberty. Marrying at this age forms a powerful bond which makes for a much stronger marriage. It also takes time for a strong emotional bond to build. In the initial stages of a relationship, attraction is often based on physical beauty.

It can take decades for a deep love independent of physical attraction to develop. By being married through the years of peak attractiveness, the marital bond can last for longer on the basis of physical attraction, giving time for this deeper bond to solidify. If someone marries at a late age after having a number of failed relationships, the pain of various breakups will have reduced their overall capacity for bonding, and with each traumatic break up, they will be more hesitant to make themselves vulnerable by bonding again. Furthermore, the physical attraction will be weaker and will fade sooner, allowing less time for an emotional bond to form that can sustain the marriage as beauty declines.

A common line of reasoning used to justify delaying marriage is that young women are not mature enough to be mothers, but the immaturity of modern girls is actually a product of cultural context. In fact, having children is one of the best ways to mature as a person. There is a saying; “Adults do not make children. Children make adults.”

Being a parent teaches you responsibility, and teaches you about yourself. Children are excellent teachers, and raising children is a great way to bond with parents or other community members. If marriage is delayed excessively, the children also have less time to bond with grandparents, and both parents and grandparents have less energy.

If there are so many advantages to marrying early, then why do people delay marriage? What do we gain by delaying marriage, parenthood, and thus lowering overall fertility? In the modern era, delaying marriage and child rearing is necessary for the maintenance of industrial and post-industrial economies. Long periods of education are required to amass enough technical knowledge and expertise to participate in ultra-specialized, sprawling, centralized supply chains.

This method of production leads to massive spiritual, social, psychological and environmental problems. People are trained to rely on technology rather than Allah, and believe technology can be a source of salvation from the problems generated by this same mode of production. Families break apart and massive, centralized factories and institutions take their place. Depression and anxiety proliferate in a perpetual, hectic race to increase productivity and profits. The oceans and water supply are poisoned by the toxic byproducts of this production.

The bulk of the profits from all of this corruption and destruction go towards enriching an ever shrinking elite of ultra-wealthy individuals who spend the profits on grotesque levels of luxury and ostentation. This same elite uses their wealth to propagate social programs that encourage and enforce delaying marriage so that the general public can be integrated into this same mode of production.

Among the narratives that are used to argue against early marriage are studies that suggest early childbearing is somehow unhealthy. Some research about early mothers shows higher rates of low birth weight and complications during delivery compared to women who deliver at an older age. However, none of these studies effectively account for socio-economic factors like the fact that adolescent mothers are more likely to come from low income households, abuse drugs, or be malnourished.

There are many instances of mothers giving birth to healthy babies at very young ages. Lina Medina of Peru was the youngest recorded mother on record. She gave birth to a healthy, full term boy at the age of 5. Mum Zi of Nigeria gave birth at age 8, and became a grandmother at 17. These are exceptional cases, but giving birth below the age 10 is not at all uncommon in traditional societies.

If marriage is delayed for decades after the onset of puberty, human nature does not go away. Delaying marriage leads to a culture where zina and abortion are normalized. It’s still common for 11 and 12 year old girls to get pregnant in Western Europe or the US— they just abort the babies.

It’s amazing that the kuffar try to suggest that areas where early marriage is still common are “undeveloped” or somehow inferior. Do they regard these areas as “less developed” because they don’t kill their children? And this killing of children is all justified in order to feed the massive, world spanning industrial economy, and those who do not do so are threatened with poverty.

So we should heed the word of Allah when He, subhanahu wa t’ala, says:

وَلَا تَقۡتُلُوۤا۟ أَوۡلَـٰدَكُمۡ خَشۡیَةَ إِمۡلَـٰقࣲۖ نَّحۡنُ نَرۡزُقُهُمۡ وَإِیَّاكُمۡۚ إِنَّ قَتۡلَهُمۡ كَانَ خِطۡءࣰا كَبِیرࣰا

And do not kill your children for fear of poverty.

17:31