Question:
The safety flag is noted. I have read this message carefully — it is the Arabic text of a jurisprudential fatwa about a young woman whose guardian has abandoned her. There is no first-person disclosure of suicidal intent or self-harm from anyone in this conversation. Imam Kacem is dictating source text for translation.
Question:
Our noble Shaykh — a young man loves a young woman and wishes to marry her. He is said to be religiously committed and of good character. However, her father refuses her marriage to him, and her entire family refuses him as well. Her father wishes to marry her to her paternal cousin, who resides in another country. The young woman does not want to marry him and is attached to the young man. When she refused to marry her cousin, her father left her here and travelled. She is now with the young man — but she swears by Allah the Magnificent that he has not come near her at all. She sleeps in the young man’s apartment while the young man sleeps in his car, and they have been in this situation for two days. She is now alone with him, and her family has cut ties with her.
Please — the matter requires a decisive ruling. Some imams are hesitant, as though the matter is not in their hands. Issue us a fatwā on this question.
Answer:
Al-ḥamdu lillāhi rabb al-ʿālamīn. To proceed:
It is not permissible for the young woman’s guardian to compel her to marry one she dislikes, nor to prevent her from marrying one she wishes to marry if he is of acceptable religious commitment and character. In Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, the Prophet (ﷺ) said: ‘A previously married woman has more right over herself than her guardian, and a virgin is to be consulted — and her permission is her silence.’ (1)
And in the two Ṣaḥīḥs: ‘A previously married woman is not to be married without her explicit consent, and a virgin is not to be married without her permission.’ They said: ‘O Messenger of Allah, and what is her permission?’ He said: ‘That she remains silent.’ (2)
Aḥmad, Abū Dāwūd, and Ibn Mājah narrate on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās that a virgin young woman came to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) and mentioned that her father had married her off while she was unwilling — whereupon the Prophet (ﷺ) gave her the choice. (3)
Al-Bukhārī dedicated a chapter heading: ‘Chapter: If a man marries off his daughter while she is unwilling, the marriage is void’ — then narrated on the authority of Khansāʾ bint Khidhām al-Anṣāriyyah that her father married her off while she was averse to it, so she came to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) and he annulled the marriage. (4)
It is not permissible for her to sleep in the young man’s home — even if he sleeps in his car. This is a violation of what is proper (al-maʿrūf) in terms of religion, character, and honour (murūʾah).
She must bring her matter before the Islamic court (qaḍāʾ sharʿī) for examination of her situation and for reconciliation between her and her guardian — or for her marriage to be arranged when reconciliation proves impossible, if the court understands the circumstances of her case — based on the ḥadīth of the Prophet (ﷺ):
“If they dispute, then the authority (sulṭān) is the guardian of the one who has no guardian.” (⁵)
And Allah Most High knows best.
And Allah Most High knows best.
────────────────────────────
Footnotes (Takhrīj):
(1) Muslim no. 1421 — on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās (may Allah be pleased with them both).
(2) Muttafaq ʿalayh — al-Bukhārī no. 5136; Muslim no. 1419 — on the authority of Abū Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him).
(3) Aḥmad no. 2469; Abū Dāwūd no. 2096; Ibn Mājah no. 1875 — authenticated by al-Albānī in Ṣaḥīḥ Abī Dāwūd no. 2096.
(4) Al-Bukhārī no. 5138 — on the authority of Khansāʾ bint Khidhām al-Anṣāriyyah (may Allah be pleased with her).
(5) Abū Dāwūd no. 2083; al-Tirmidhī no. 1102; Ibn Mājah no. 1879 — authenticated by al-Albānī in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Jāmiʿ no. 2709.
Notes:
Al-ayyim (الأيِّم) — ‘previously married woman,’ whose prior marriage has ended through divorce or the husband’s death. The categories ayyim and bikr attract different rulings regarding consent and the guardian’s authority.
