Wants To Marry A Convert But Her Parents Object Fatwa No: 407662
- Fatwa Date:24-11-2019
As-salaamu alaikum
I hope you are able to assist with the situation.
I'm writing in behalf of a friend.
She's in love with a boy for some time now and recognises that it's haraam.
Her parents do not approve of the boy on the basis that he has converted to islaam and his family is not Muslim...
They also object because they are aware that he's not financially stable and the girl is also still studying.
The boy and girl both wish to make nikaah ASAP to avoid further sin. They hope that once the girls parents realise that they are not going to be seperated and once he is financially secure, they can make the nikaah public and she can go live with him them...
Is this permissible?
I understand that according to the Hanafi school of thought, the girl does not need the permission of her guardian. But how exactly is this done?
Jazakallah Khair
All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.
Most of the scholars held that the consent of the Waliyy (guardian) of the bride (by his presence or the presence of someone he authorizes to act on his behalf) is one of the conditions for the validity of marriage. This is the view adopted by Islamweb, given its strong supportive evidence. As for the Hanafi view regarding this issue, it is outweighed.
Therefore, it is impermissible for this girl to marry that man without the permission of her Waliyy. Parents are most often compassionate towards their daughter and keen to do what is in her best interest. By virtue of their life experience, they are often more farsighted than her and keener to choose a suitable husband for her, with whom her marriage would most likely last. The marital life is a long journey, and the choice of one’s life partner should not be exclusively based on emotion.
Our advice for your friend is to obey her parents and show the enjoined dutifulness to them in the hope that Allah, The Exalted, would bless her in return with success in her life and a righteous husband with whom she would find happiness.
If she fears that her Waliyy might unjustly prevent her from marriage, she should refer the matter to the Islamic authority responsible for settling disputes among Muslims. If such unjust prevention of marriage is proven, the authority has the right to marry her off to a suitable suitor. It is established in the authentic Sunnah that the ruler and whoever is acting on his behalf act as the guardian of the one who has no guardian.
For more benefit on a woman’s marriage without guardian, please refer to Fataawa 92758, 85057, 226429, 132754, and 269080.
Allah knows best.