A woman claiming that her guardian is not eligible to marry her off

8-2-2010 | IslamWeb

Question:

assalamu aleeykum now days it becoming a common for a girl to marry boy with out permission of their family by mentioning that thier family are not from ahlussunnah.t and they prefare qadi (islamic court) than thier family.perhaps thiers family my not accept thier marraige in normal condition. if it is clear for you . what is the correct way according to islamic doctrine. maassalam

Answer:

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad  sallallaahu  `alayhi  wa  sallam ( may  Allaah exalt his mention ) is His slave and Messenger.

 

The correct procedure is that it is the guardian who marries off the woman who is under his guardianship, and the consent of the guardian is a condition for the validity of the marriage contract according to the preponderant opinion of the scholars  may  Allaah  have  mercy  upon  them as we clarified in Fataawa 85057 and 86348.

The judge marries off a woman who has no guardian or when her guardian prevents her without any valid reason from marrying a suitable and competent match of whom she approves, or that her guardian is not eligible to be her guardian and so forth, it is for this reason that the Prophet  sallallaahu  `alayhi  wa  sallam ( may  Allaah exalt his mention ) said: "If they [the guardian and the woman who is under his guardianship] dispute, then the ruler [Muslim judge] is a guardian for whoever does not have a guardian.” [Ahmad, At-Tirmithi and Ibn Maajah]

It should be noted that being ‘Adl (i.e. trustworthy and righteous) is not a condition for being an eligible guardian for a woman according to the most preponderant opinion of the scholars  may  Allaah  have  mercy  upon  them. Therefore, a woman cannot marry off herself on the pretext that her guardian is not ‘Adl, unless he becomes a non-Muslim. If it is confirmed that he became a non-Muslim, then he has no guardianship over a Muslim woman.

Since the matter is taken to a Muslim judge, then he is more suitable to look into the matter and if it is proven to him that he has the right to marry off the girl, he may do so.

Allaah Knows best.

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