Marriage Contracts and Forced/Un-consented Marriages
The marriage contract is concluded between the guardian (wali) of the bride and bridegroom, not between bridegroom and bride. Guardian (wali) of the bride can only be a free Muslim. The wali of the bride is normally a male relative of the bride, preferable her father. If the bride is an virgin, which is supposed for the first marriage, the wali can force the bride into the marriage even against her proclaimed will, if the wali is the father or the paternal grandfather of the bride. Such a wali is called wali mujbir, which means wali with the right of coercion. Walis other than the father or the paternal grandfather of the bride need the consent of the bride. If the bride is a virgin, silent consent is sufficient. According to the Hanafi school of shari'a law every wali, who is a blood relative, can force an underage virgin in marriage without her consent. But such a forced marriage by an wali other than her father or the paternal grandfather can be demanded to be declared void (faskh) by the qadi, when the she is coming on age.
Read more about this topic: Marriage In Islam
Famous quotes containing the words marriage, contracts, forced and/or marriages:
“Women hope men will change after marriage but they don’t; men hope women won’t change but they do.”
—Bettina Arndt (20th century)
“If love closes, the self contracts and hardens: the mind having nothing else to occupy its attention and give it that change and renewal it requires, busies itself more and more with self-feeling, which takes on narrow and disgusting forms, like avarice, arrogance and fatuity.”
—Charles Horton Cooley (1864–1929)
“Neither fear nor courage saves us. Unnatural vices
Are fathered by our heroism. Virtues
Are forced upon us by our impudent crimes.”
—T.S. (Thomas Stearns)
“Women have entered the work force . . . partly to express their feelings of self-worth . . . partly because today many families would not survive without two incomes, partly because they are not at all sure their marriages will last. The day of the husband as permanent meal-ticket is over, a fact most women recognize, however they feel about “women’s liberation.””
—Robert Neelly Bellah (20th century)