MARRIAGE

QUESTION:

As Salaamu Alaikum,

  1. If a person fears to fall in haram but she/he is also certain that if they were to marry they will not be able to fulfill the rights of their partners, then what will be the ruling of marriage?
  2. 2. A woman says the ijaab of marriage jokingly loud in her room. If a man in the next room or in the next house hears this along with two other men and says qabool of marriage in front of the two men, will that make a marriage?

ANSWER:

Wa Alaikum As Salaam,

Bismillahi Wa Billahi At Tawfeeq

  1. If there is a fear of falling into the sin of zina if one does not marry, and there is also a fear of oppressing one’s partner if one does marry, then the second one will be given preference. Thus marriage will no longer be compulsory, rather it will be makrooh (disliked). This is what has been mentioned in Fath Al Qadeer. The possible reason for this maybe because Oppression is a sin connected with the rights of the servants of Allah. and the prohibition of Zina is from the rights of Allah. And the rights of the servants is preferred over the rights of Allah. This is due to the need of the servants of Allah and because of magnanimity of Allah.

Hope this answers your question.

(Al Bahr 3/ 140)

  1. There is a lot of ambiguity in this question. Did she make a general proposal, or was it directed to anyone in particular? Did the man know who he was saying qabool to?

This marriage won’t be valid as neither of the two can be sure of who they are marrying. This will be true even if they think that they know who it is that they are addressing. If for example, Zainab proposed marriage to Zaid and they were in different rooms. Then although Zainab believes that she is sending a proposal to Zaid, and Zaid believes that he is accepting Zainab’s proposal, they have no way of knowing this with certainty. It may very well have been Zaid’s brother, Bakr, who accepted and she thought that it was Zaid as they sound similar.

 

(Fatawa Shami 4/86-87)

Generally speaking, for the nikah to be valid, Ijaab (proposal) and Qabool (acceptance) need to be made and heard by each of the two parties either literally or figuratively (by means of a wakeel or agent) in one sitting. And they should understand that these words are being used to establish the nikah contract. And this needs to be witnessed by two male witnesses or one male and two female witnesses who understand that these two people are being married.

(Fatawa Shami 4/98-100)

(Fatawa Darul Uloom Zakariya 3/554-556)

We advise you to observe the following guidelines:

  1. The girl should formally appoint a wakeel other than the Imam or the witness to act as an agent on her behalf.
  2. The Imam, the Groom, the Agent and two male Muslim witnesses should all come together in one place, preferably in a masjid.
  3. Thereafter, the Imam should conduct the Nikah in the presence of the two male witnesses, with the agent acting on the girl’s behalf. The agreed amount of mahr should also be mentioned during the nikah ceremony.

 

 

And Allah knows best

Mufti Waheeb Saiyed

17/10/2018