Does a woman have to have a Wali to be able to marry? There is a young lady who is from ahl-Sunah whose family are all from those who believe that the companions of the Prophet committed Kufr. She wants to marry a young Sunni man but her family does not allow it. They want her to marry only a man who holds their beliefs. That means, she has no Wali to marry her to that young man. Also, please send me the basic requirements for a correct marriage.

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 is His slave and Messenger.

Whoever sticks to deviated faith like believing that the companions of the Prophet committed Kufr, or saying that the Quran has been changed, or believing that the Awliya or Imams have the knowledge of the unseen, or that they are infallible like the Prophets or similar false beliefs, then whoever believes in such deviated matters he is considered non-Muslim.

Therefore, the person who believes in the above has no right to be a guardian of a Muslim woman and marrying a person with such beliefs is also forbidden. So, this girl should not submit herself to the will of her parents to marry a person who believes in false faiths. She should refuse firmly to marry such a person and insist on not marrying anyone who does not stick to the right faith. If she strongly continues on her refusal then her parents will listen to her and eventually marry her to a man whose faith is sound. In this case, she should renew her marriage contract since the faith of her guardian is not valid.

Her guardian is the judge of any Islamic court, or any one of her Muslim relatives, or any trustworthy Muslim man.

If the parents do not agree with her and insist on marrying her to the one who does not believe according to people of Sunnah, then it is desirable for her to ask someone in her family to convince her parents that she should not be married against her will. If they do not turn away from their decision, then in this case, she should refer to the Islamic court if it is available, otherwise she should appoint a pious Muslim to be her guardian.

Know that all the above rulings are subjected to the basic ruling of Sharee’ah, which stipulate that benefits should be gained and disadvantages or harms should be decreased and avoided as much as possible. Thereupon, one should do only what is beneficial or where more benefits are present than harms; if the gain of more benefits is not possible, then it is not recommended in the Sharee’ah to pursue in this course of action.

For more benefit on the conditions of a valid marriage in Islam, please refer to Fataawa 82072, 82623, 339433, 83629 and 82262.

Allah knows best.