What is the ruling on shighar marriage if they did not know it was forbidden, and what should they do now?
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The questioner:
A listener from your beneficial program said that the family of a man who is getting married is conditioning the marriage of their son on the family of the girl giving them a daughter in marriage. The Shaykh named this shighar marriage and said it is forbidden. However, the problem is that this method of marriage has occurred in our families, where both parties contracted the mahr, which was ten thousand as the advance portion and ten thousand as the deferred portion. This is not the value of the mahr that is customary in our families generally. So, what is the ruling in your view? We were all ignorant that this is forbidden. May Allah reward you with good.
The Shaykh:
There is no doubt that shighar marriage is invalid and prohibited. It is when it is stipulated in the marriage of one’s ward that the other party marries his ward to him. If the marriage of a woman is conditioned on the marriage of another woman in the form of exchange, then if this is done without a mahr, it is shighar by the consensus of the scholars, and it is an invalid marriage. This is because it harms women, disregards the dignity of the woman, and treats her like a commodity. As for if this exchange is accompanied by a full mahr for each of the two women, and it is also with their consent, with each one being satisfied with the other husband, then this is a matter of disagreement among the scholars. It is a matter of disagreement among the scholars: is it shighar or is it not shighar? The issue is one of scholarly disagreement, and its reference is to the judge and the Sharia court to look into it. Yes. May Allah reward you with good, and may He reward you.
The questioner:
Do you advise the one in that situation to try to review the courts regarding the procedure?
The Shaykh:
They should review the courts in their area and clarify to them the reality of the situation, and the judge, if Allah wills, will handle the case.
The presenter:
O Allah, amen. May Allah reward you with good, and may He reward you.
A listener from your beneficial program said that the family of a man who is getting married is conditioning the marriage of their son on the family of the girl giving them a daughter in marriage. The Shaykh named this shighar marriage and said it is forbidden. However, the problem is that this method of marriage has occurred in our families, where both parties contracted the mahr, which was ten thousand as the advance portion and ten thousand as the deferred portion. This is not the value of the mahr that is customary in our families generally. So, what is the ruling in your view? We were all ignorant that this is forbidden. May Allah reward you with good.
The Shaykh:
There is no doubt that shighar marriage is invalid and prohibited. It is when it is stipulated in the marriage of one’s ward that the other party marries his ward to him. If the marriage of a woman is conditioned on the marriage of another woman in the form of exchange, then if this is done without a mahr, it is shighar by the consensus of the scholars, and it is an invalid marriage. This is because it harms women, disregards the dignity of the woman, and treats her like a commodity. As for if this exchange is accompanied by a full mahr for each of the two women, and it is also with their consent, with each one being satisfied with the other husband, then this is a matter of disagreement among the scholars. It is a matter of disagreement among the scholars: is it shighar or is it not shighar? The issue is one of scholarly disagreement, and its reference is to the judge and the Sharia court to look into it. Yes. May Allah reward you with good, and may He reward you.
The questioner:
Do you advise the one in that situation to try to review the courts regarding the procedure?
The Shaykh:
They should review the courts in their area and clarify to them the reality of the situation, and the judge, if Allah wills, will handle the case.
The presenter:
O Allah, amen. May Allah reward you with good, and may He reward you.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، ماحكم زواج الشغار إذا كانوا لا يعرفون أنه حراماً وماذا يفعلون الآن؟ الشيخ صالح بن فوزان الفوزان — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.