{"id":105313,"date":"2026-02-24T16:40:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T16:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/man-defends-marriage-to-woman-a-quarter-of-his-age-says-they-fell-in-love-the-express-tribune\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T16:40:00","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T16:40:00","slug":"man-defends-marriage-to-woman-a-quarter-of-his-age-says-they-fell-in-love-the-express-tribune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/man-defends-marriage-to-woman-a-quarter-of-his-age-says-they-fell-in-love-the-express-tribune\/","title":{"rendered":"Man defends marriage to woman a quarter of his age, says they fell in love  | The Express Tribune"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&#8216;Ours is both an arranged marriage and a love marriage. My wife fell in love, and then it became arranged&#8217;, says groom<\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<p>\u201cAge is just a number\u201d \u2014 until it comes to marriage. The moment a younger man marries an older woman, or an older man chooses a younger partner, society suddenly starts counting the years.<\/p>\n<p>That is exactly what happened this week when an elderly man tied the nuptial knot with a woman a quarter of his age \u2014 a union that instantly set off media frenzy. Headlines screamed, timelines exploded, and social media turned into a battleground of outrage, curiosity and judgment.<\/p>\n<p>Sensing a viral moment, content creators descended on the residence of 70-year-old hakim Babar Ji, who had married a 22-year-old woman in Chakala Scheme-III, turning a private union into a public spectacle.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOurs is both an arranged and a love marriage. We liked each other first \u2014 my wife fell in love \u2014 and then we formalised it by solemnising the nikah,\u201d says Babar Ji in a short clip shot by a content creator, which has since gone viral on social media.<\/p>\n<p>Standing next to him, his young spouse agreed, confirming that this is exactly how it happened.<\/p>\n<div data-oembed-url=\"https:\/\/x.com\/rizwanghilzai\/status\/2026140939979567298?s=20\">\n<blockquote align=\"center\" class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p dir=\"rtl\" lang=\"ur\">\u0627\u0646\u06c1\u06cc\u06ba LOVE \u06c1\u0648\u0627 \u067e\u06be\u0631 \u06c1\u0645 \u0646\u06d2 \u0627\u0631\u06cc\u0646\u062c \u0645\u06cc\u0631\u062c \u06a9\u06cc\u06d4 \u0639\u0645\u0631 \u06a9\u0648 \u0686\u06be\u0648\u0691\u06cc\u06ba \u062f\u0644 \u062c\u0648\u0627\u0646 \u06c1\u0648\u0646\u0627 \u0686\u0627\u06c1\u06cc\u06d2\u06d4 \u0648\u06c1 \u0637\u0644\u0627\u0642 \u06cc\u0627\u0642\u062a\u06c1 \u062a\u06be\u06cc\u06ba \u0627\u0648\u0631 \u0627\u0644\u0644\u06c1 \u06a9\u0627 \u062d\u06a9\u0645 \u06c1\u06d2 \u06a9\u06c1 \u0637\u0644\u0627\u0642 \u06cc\u0627\u0641\u062a\u06c1 \u0633\u06d2 \u0646\u06a9\u0627\u062d \u06a9\u0631\u06cc\u06ba\u060c \u062c\u0648\u0627\u0646 \u0644\u0691\u06a9\u06cc \u0633\u06d2 \u0634\u0627\u062f\u06cc \u06a9\u0631\u0646\u06d2 \u0648\u0627\u0644\u06d2 60 \u0633\u0627\u0644\u06c1 \u062d\u06a9\u06cc\u0645 \u0628\u0627\u0628\u0631 \u06a9\u0627 \u0648\u06cc\u0688\u06cc\u0648 \u067e\u06cc\u063a\u0627\u0645 \u062c\u0627\u0631\u06cc <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/O6Q7RHYqxB\">pic.twitter.com\/O6Q7RHYqxB<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Rizwan Ghilzai (Remembering Arshad Sharif) (@rizwanghilzai) <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/rizwanghilzai\/status\/2026140939979567298?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 24, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cAge is just a number. One should be young at heart. She was a divorcee, and this is Allah\u2019s command and the Prophet\u2019s (PBUH) Sunnah. I acted upon it \u2014 so what wrong have I done?\u201d said Babar Ji, his long white beard a striking reminder of the decades between the couple.<\/p>\n<p>He added, \u201cI did not commit adultery, so why are people making negative comments? In fact, those who criticise us are often the ones who have had girlfriends and unlawful relationships, yet refuse to marry \u2014 they flirt and deceive women instead.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Babar Ji\u2019s young wife echoed his sentiment, saying that age should not matter when there is genuine love, and that one should not delay marriage when they have found someone they truly care for.<\/p>\n<p>The couple plans to perform Umrah after Eidul Fitr, followed by a trip to the Netherlands.<\/p>\n<p>The reactions on social media seem to vary from concerns over the age gap between the couple to support for the marriage and condemnation of extramarital relationships.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8216;Ours is both an arranged marriage and a love marriage. My wife fell in love, and then it became arranged&#8217;, says groom \u201cAge is just a number\u201d \u2014 until it comes to marriage. The moment a younger man marries an older woman, or an older man chooses a younger partner, society suddenly starts counting the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":105314,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i.tribune.com.pk\/media\/images\/whatsapp-image-2026-02-24-at-1-48-06-pm1771922928-0\/whatsapp-image-2026-02-24-at-1-48-06-pm1771922928-0-640x480.webp","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-105313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=105313"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105313\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/105314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=105313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=105313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=105313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}