ANKARA, Turkey — Turkey’s Religious Affairs Directorate (DIB) — the country's highest Islamic authority — triggered uproar earlier this month by endorsing the view that girls can marry at age 9 and boys at age 12.

The controversy erupted after media scrutiny of a Glossary of Religious Terms, which the DIB ran on its website. For “puberty,” the glossary offered the following explanation: “Experts of Islamic law have determined the threshold for puberty age as 12 for boys and 9 for girls. Having reached that age, boys enter the stage of progeneration … and girls reach fecundity age, [that is] they become pubescent. … Puberty is the period in which individuals become accountable religiously and obtain the status of adults. Able-minded individuals who reach that stage obtain full conduct capacity. As such, they become answerable to religious precepts such as worship, halal and haram, and [are] liable to punitive, financial and legal obligations.”

The glossary described marriage as a necessary step against “the danger of engaging in illegitimate affairs.” On how the marriage ceremony should be performed, the following is advised for women: “A woman who has reached puberty age can get married without [the presence of] a parent, but the presence of a parent is preferable.”

The DIB’s endorsement of the view that girls who reach puberty at age 9 can marry and bear children drew the fury of women's groups, civil society organizations, opposition parties and some well-known scholars of Islam.