assalamu Alikum wa rahmatuallah wa barakahtu A very pious, Allah fearing brother with good character propose to me. The brother is focused on learning his Deen. His passion is to give Dawah. We are both Africans, I am Somali sister and he is Nigerian American. People consider him a good brother. However, when he proposes to me my father did not like the fact he is not a Somali. He said what his tribe or his friend would think the fact that I married a Nigerian American. My father said also no because he does not speak Somali despite the brother being practicing. It really hurted me what he was saying about the brother. He said why you brought a slave and calling him awful things as if the brother is kaffir. My father said you could only marry Somalian .only your race. I believe this is going against the teaching of our Prophet. He is teaching division among ummah by saying you could only marry only your race. What does the Sharia say about this? Does support it? but if you bring the imam to talking him and he still said no. If she were to marry with her older brother, as her wali, without the consent of their father because he would like her to not marry him because of his nationality or culture. Would the marriage be halal or valid? If a “wali“ is required then, it is required. However it doesn't mean that the “wali“ can do whatever he likes. If the “wali“, who is in most cases the father of the girl, is being harsh then, he is not fit to be a “wali“, but this is not practiced today. For most of us the “wali“ is only the father if he is alive, but this is not the case. If the father has an objection which is not a Sharaee objection, then he has no right whatsoever to take unjust advantage of the authority he has.

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 is His slave and Messenger.

The consent of the guardian is one of the most important conditions for the validity of the marriage contract as stated in the Prophetic Sunnah; indeed we clarified this in Fatwa 83629.

However, the guardian has no right to refuse marrying off a girl [who is under his guardianship] to a competent and suitable man just because he is from another nationality as this matter is contradictory to the Sharee’ah as discussed in Fatwa 89098.

The suitability or the competence that should be taken into account in marriage is religion and good moral conduct according to the most preponderant opinion of the jurists . For more benefit in this regard, please refer to Fatwa 82298.

Therefore, we advise you to supplicate Allaah as much as possible to enable you to convince your father and you should not despair; rather, you should try your best and seek the help of whomever you think may influence him. Then, in case he persists on refusing, you should take the matter to a Muslim judge or whoever acts on his behalf if you are residing in a non-Muslim country. If it is proven that your father prevents you from marrying a competent man without a sound reason, the judge will marry you off or he will order the guardian who is next to you father to marry you off.

For more benefit on the order of the guardians, please refer to Fatwa 90375.

Allaah Knows best.