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Very Confused about their Marriage according to the Hanafi School of Jurisprudence

Question

In my country the judicial system is based on the madhhab of imam abu hanifa.But the country stipulates its own law of age limit for marriage. Which is minimum 16 for girls and 21 for boys.Here sharia court allowes a girl to conduct her own marriage. A sister and a brother got married without there wali to avoid haram.Then somehow they learn the matter about wali in marriage..They got confused.They asked the muftis of mosques studied from al azhar University. All af them said it valid..But the girl wasn't convinced.she did research saw evidences from both sides and was convinced with the evidences presented by hanafis.Then based on that they again got married with the presence of girls brother who was mature.but the girl is still confused.Their parents doesn't know and they will not accept as they have not completed their education yet.The girl somehow was informed that in this case court marriage will be valid..so they refered to judge to view this matter personally as they can't do coart marriage officially,they are 19.The judge examined the matter personally, he saw the papers, witness and decided the amount of mahr viewing the girls status and declared the marriage valid.He took that in his authority.But he took an amount of money for doing the work of judgement. He takes it for viewing matters other than his official work not for declaring it valid unlawfully.. If he thinks the marriage is not valid according to Islamic sharia he doesn't take the responsiblity. The sister and the brother paid the money.Now is this considered giving bribe.they clearly said they don't want to give bribe in return for the sign.What is the ruling on this marriage and the judges vertict.is this valid?

Answer

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 ( may  Allaah exalt his mention ) is His slave and Messenger.

Muslim jurists held different opinions regarding the ruling on the consent of the Wali (bride’s guardian) in the marriage contract, and the majority of scholars stipulated his consent as a condition for the validity of the marriage contract, and this is the opinion adopted at Islamweb given the strength of its supportive evidence. Abu Haneefah  may  Allaah  have  mercy  upon  him on the other hand, disagreed on this issue and held that it is permissible for a woman to marry herself off and that a marriage contract conducted in such a manner is valid. If the contract in question was conducted in imitation of the Hanafi school of Fiqh, then the marriage contract is valid. So this girl should disregard these whisperings, especially since she has already consulted a scholar and he advised that the marriage contract is valid. With regard to renewing the marriage contract in the presence of her brother, it would be a statement of the obvious (i.e. unnecessary), noting that the Hanafi scholars held that the validity of appointing a farther Wali is conditional on the approval of the nearer Wali.

If this judge did not issue his judgment on the validity of the marriage in his capacity as a judge, then his opinion is regarded the same as the opinion of any other, and accordingly, it is not considered a judicial verdict on the validity of the marriage contract. Nevertheless, this marriage contract is valid, as we have mentioned above, and therefore there is no need for undue confusion and worry.

We conclude the answer to this first part of the question by pointing out that although an adult young man is not Islamically required to inform his parents of his marriage, he should not marry without their knowledge. He needs to consult them and avail himself of their sound opinions given their old age and greater life experience, in addition to his need to share his joy with his family. The same applies to the girl, as she needs her parents. Rather, it is impermissible for her to get married without the knowledge and consent of her Wali, because his consent is a condition for the validity of the marriage contract, as we mentioned above.

As for the second part of the question; whether or not what he took is considered a bribe, then this is a different question related to transactions. So kindly submit it separately, in accordance with the website’s policy.

Allah Knows best.

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