The Systematic Oppression of Christian and Hindu Girls in Pakistan in the Name of Islam

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The practice of forced religious conversion and coerced marriages of Christian and Hindu girls in Pakistan continues unabated. This has been clearly documented in the 2026 Annual Report of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF). According to the report, incidents of abduction of minor Christian and Hindu girls, their forced conversion to Islam, and subsequent coerced marriages to Muslim men persisted throughout 2025, particularly in the provinces of Punjab and Sindh.

USCIRF has warned that thousands of underage girls are abducted every year, forced to convert to Islam, and then married off to Muslim men. United Nations experts have also expressed deep concern over this appalling pattern, noting that local authorities and courts often legitimize these forced marriages by giving them the color of “consent,” thereby providing legal protection to the Muslim perpetrators. This results in the trampling of the honor, freedom, and future of daughters from Christian and Hindu families.

This is Islam itself, plainly and directly, that creates the mindset the justifies the seizure of innocent daughters from Christian homes and binds them in the chains of slavery and exploitation. These forced conversions are typically carried out through grooming, abduction, rape, threats, and coercion. Girls are targeted from schools, neighborhoods, or workplaces. The police frequently show inaction in such cases, while courts acquit the accused on the basis of fake age documents and statements claiming “Islam has been accepted.”

As a result, thousands of Christian and Hindu families lose their daughters, whose lives are destroyed by Islam. This is not only a grave violation of human rights but also a systematic assault that endangers the very existence of Pakistan’s Christian and Hindu communities while actively promoting hatred and exploitation by Islam.

In this context, an important question arises: Does the permission of child marriage (at a minor age) in Islam and its historical examples provide any moral or jurisprudential basis for such exploitation in the modern era?

Can the societal trend of marrying young girls during the time of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and the Caliphs justify similar incidents today? In response to this question, here are some important historical examples drawn from the pages of authentic Islamic books:

1. Zainab bint Muhammad

She was the eldest daughter of Muhammad. She was born 10 years before the announcement of prophethood. Historical records state that her marriage to Abul Aas bin Rabi‘ took place before the prophethood. This means that when the Muhammad arranged her marriage, Zainab’s age was 9 years or even less.

(Tabaqat Ibn Sa‘d, Volume 4, Part 8, Page 341, Dar al-Isha‘at, Karachi)

2. Ruqayyah bint Muhammad

She was the second daughter of the Muhammad and was born 8 years before the announcement of prophethood. It is reported that her marriage to Utbah, son of Abu Lahab, took place before prophethood. From this narration, it is clear that when the Prophet arranged Ruqayyah’s marriage, her age was 7 years or even less.

(Tabaqat Ibn Sa‘d, Volume 4, Part 8, Page 345)

3. Bibi Umm Kulthum bint Muhammad

She was the third daughter of the Muhammad and was born 7 years before the announcement of prophethood. Her marriage to Utbayyah, son of Abu Lahab, also took place before prophethood. This shows that at the time of her marriage, Umm Kulthum’s age was 6 years or even less.

(Tabaqat Ibn Sa‘d, Volume 4, Part 8, Page 346)

4. Fatima bint Muhammad

According to narrations, she was born in the fifth year of prophethood on 20 Jamadi al-Thani. Her marriage to Ali ibn Abi Talib took place on 1 Dhul Hijjah, 2 AH, when she was 9 years old. She passed away on 3 Jamadi al-Thani, 11 AH, at the age of 18.

5. Umm Kulthum bint Abi Bakr

She was the daughter of the first Caliph, Abu Bakr. She was born in 12 or 13 AH, a few months after Abu Bakr’s death. Narrations mention that Caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab sent a marriage proposal for the young Umm Kulthum. Her young age was neither questioned nor objected to by Aisha or others — the only objection raised was Umar’s strict nature. At that time, Umar was approximately 55 years old.

(Tarikh al-Tabari, Volume 3, Part 1, Page 221)

6. Umm Kulthum bint Ali

Her marriage to Caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab took place in 17 AH when she was 8 or 10 years old. When Ali initially objected due to her young age, Umar insisted, and the marriage was eventually arranged. (Al-Farooq by Shibli Nu‘mani, Page 406; Tarikh al-Khamis, Volume 2, Page 384)

These narrations clearly show that during the time of the Muhammad and the Caliphs, the marriage of young (minor) girls was a common social practice and was not considered objectionable. In light of these same narrations and historical precedents, senior scholars from all major Islamic schools of thought continue to permit the marriage of very young girls, including those still breastfeeding, with physical relations generally allowed from the age of nine.

Conclusion

The horrific pattern of abducting Christian and Hindu girls as young as 10 or 13, forcibly converting them, and marrying them to adult Muslim men is not a cultural aberration. It is Islam. It flows directly from the life and example of Muhammad himself and the practices of his companions and successors. When Muhammad married Aisha at six and consummated the marriage at nine, and when he and the early Caliphs arranged marriages for their own daughters at similarly tender ages, they set a precedent that remains binding for believing Muslims today.

As long as the Islamic world reveres Muhammad as the perfect moral exemplar (uswa hasana) and the Sunnah as timeless guidance, this will continue. Pakistani courts, police, and Mullahs who facilitate or ignore these Islamic crimes are not distorting anything — they are applying Islam. Until the Muslim world confronts and critically re-examines these early precedents instead of defending them, the systematic targeting of vulnerable Christian and Hindu girls in Pakistan and elsewhere will persist. This is not merely a human rights issue; it is Islam applied in the modern world.

Photo credit: DFID – UK Dept. of Intl. Development.