Forced Marriages are Forbidden (Haram)
Ustadha Zaynab Ansar, a SunniPath Academy teacher, declared:
Forced marriages are not permitted in Islam.
The proof of this comes from multiple authentic Prophetic narrations (ahadeeth). For
example, the prophet (peace be upon him) said:
A woman without a husband (or divorced or a widow) must not be married until
she is consulted, and a virgin must not be married until her permission is sought.
(Sahih al-Muslim, Kitab al-Nikah, Book 8, Number 3303)
Aisha herself (!!!) says:
I asked God’s Messenger about a virgin whose marriage is solemnized by her
guardian, whether it was necessary or not to consult her. God’s Messenger said:
“Yes, she must be consulted!”
(Sahih al-Bukhari, Book 8, Number 3305)
The Quran declares:
O you who believe! You are forbidden to inherit women against their will! Nor
should you treat them with harshness…
(Quran, 4:19)
The prophet (peace be upon him) declared:
An orphan virgin girl should be consulted about herself; if she says nothing [out
of shyness] that indicates her permission, but if she refuses, the authority of the
guardian cannot be exercised against her will.
(Sunan Abu Dawood, Kitab al-Nikah, Book 11, Number 2088)
And the prophet (peace be upon him) further said:
Consult women about (the marriage of) their daughters.
(Sunan Abu Dawood, Kitab al-Nikah, Book 11, Number 2090)
Shaykh Ali Badahdah stated:
Though a child must generally obey his or her parents, this obedience does not
extend to marrying an unwanted partner in life. Islamic Law permits a son or
daughter to refuse entering into any marriage he or she is displeased with, no
matter what their reason for refusing might be…
No one should enter into a marriage unless he or she is perfectly satisfied with it
and resolved to it. The consent of both the man and the woman must be utterly
free. This is the way to ensure that their married life has a good chance of
happiness and not be a source of continual grief for the couple and for their
respective families.
In the case of a girl being forced into marriage, she has the right to have the marriage
annulled. She simply needs to present her case to the court. The proof of this is also
from authentic Prophetic narrations (ahadeeth). One of the Prophet’s disciples,
Buraydah, narrated that:
Once, a woman came to the prophet and said: “O Messenger of God, my father
married me to my cousin in order to raise his social standing, but I do not want to
be married to him.” The prophet (peace be upon him) gave her the option of
annulment. At this point in time, she said: “I have already reconciled myself to
my father’s decision, but I wanted it to be known that women have a say in the
matter.”
(Sunan an-Nasa’i #3629, Sunan Ibn Majah #1874, and Musnad Ahmad #25043)
A similar thing is narrated elsewhere:
A virgin came to the prophet (peace be upon him) and mentioned that her father
had married her against her will, so the prophet (peace be upon him) allowed her
to exercise her choice.
(Sunan Abu Dawood, Kitab al-Nikah, Book 11, Number 2091)
Shaykh Ali Badahdah stated:
If a man knows that the family of his bride to be is coercing her to marrying him,
then that man must himself refuse to enter into the marriage. It is not lawful for
him to marry a woman he knows is unwilling. Such a marriage has a contractual
defect in it, since the willing consent of both parties is part of the contractual basis
of a lawful marriage in Islam – even if that marriage takes place in a court of law
at the behest of the woman's legal guardian.
Shaykh muhammad Ahmad al-Salih clearly writes that both a child and adult have a right
to refuse marriage:
Question: Can a father compel his daughter to marry a man whom she dislikes?
Does she have to obey her parents’ wishes if they want her to marry someone?
Answered by Shaykh muhammad Ahmad al-Salih:
An adult person, whether male or female, cannot be forced by anyone to marry
against his or her will…A child must generally obey his or her parents. However,
this obedience does not include a life-long commitment to an unwanted marriage
partner.
(http://islamtoday.com/show_detail_se...main_cat_id=17)
Shaykh Salman al-Oudah’s website has an excellent article entitled “Forced Marriages
Have No Place in Islam”, and the interested reader can read that article for more
clarification on the matter.للمزيد من مواضيعي
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28.06.2013, 23:37
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