Marrying off a sister before her elder sister

21/11/2011| IslamWeb

 Question

My question is whether younger sister can marry first before elder sister marriage. Elder one is love affair with one muslim boy & both are stuying now. Can younger sister can do marriage first????. Pls advise. Vassalam Amirudeen.

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 is His slave and Messenger.

It is permissible for a woman to marry before her elder sister as there is no evidence that prohibits this.

‘Ali Ibn Abu Taalib, may Allah be pleased with him, narrated that the Prophet said to him: “O 'Ali, there are three things which you should not delay: the prayer when its time is due, the funeral when it is ready, and marrying off an unmarried woman when there is a suitable match for her.” [At-Tirmithi, Ibn Maajah, with a chain of narrators that is differed upon among the scholars; however, some scholars classified it as Hasan (good).]

On the other hand, it is an obligation on the elder sister to cut her relationship with that young man, as it is not permissible for a Muslim woman to have an affectionate relationship with a non-Mahram man and the fact that he wants to marry her does not make such relation permissible.

If he wants to marry her in the future, he should undertake the proper means, which is to ask her hand from her guardian.

Allah Knows best.

Fatwa answered by: The Fatwa Center at Islamweb