The Meaning of Exchange Marriage (Nikah al-Badal) or Shigar, Which Is Prohibited
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Question:
From Zarqa, Jordan, this questioner says: To the Honorable Shaykh Salih ibn Fawzan al-Fawzan (may Allah preserve him). First, I would like to turn to Allah the Exalted, asking Him to preserve you and the scholars of the Muslims. My question, Honorable Shaykh, is that exchange marriage has become common in our village, meaning that a man gives his sister to a man as a wife and he marries that man’s sister, for example. They do specify the immediate and deferred mahr (bridal gift) in the contract. Is this practice permissible, Shaykh?
Answer:
If exchange marriage (nikah al-badal) does not include a mahr, and does not include the women’s desire and the woman’s consent, then this is shigar. This is shigar, and there is scholarly consensus (ijma') on its invalidity, if it does not include a mahr, but rather a woman is exchanged for a woman. This is an invalid marriage, and this is the shigar that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) prohibited.
As for when there is a mahr, the mahr of the like (mahr al-mithl), and there is mutual consent from the women, desire from the women, and no coercion, then the scholars have differed on this. The majority hold that it is not shigar and that it is permissible, due to the removal of harm and the fulfillment of the condition, which is the presence of a sufficient mahr for each of the two women, and that there is no harm to them, as long as they have consented to this, for the right belongs to them. And a group of scholars held that it is also shigar, even if there is a mahr, considering this to be shigar, making it an invalid marriage. The argument of the first group is that Ibn 'Umar, the narrator of the hadith, explained shigar as marrying a woman in exchange for a woman, and there is no shigar between them. The people of the second opinion say that this is an explanation from the narrator, and it is not traced back to the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), so the generality of the prohibition of shigar remains in its full scope, and this explanation is merely the narrator’s independent legal reasoning (ijtihad). Yes.
From Zarqa, Jordan, this questioner says: To the Honorable Shaykh Salih ibn Fawzan al-Fawzan (may Allah preserve him). First, I would like to turn to Allah the Exalted, asking Him to preserve you and the scholars of the Muslims. My question, Honorable Shaykh, is that exchange marriage has become common in our village, meaning that a man gives his sister to a man as a wife and he marries that man’s sister, for example. They do specify the immediate and deferred mahr (bridal gift) in the contract. Is this practice permissible, Shaykh?
Answer:
If exchange marriage (nikah al-badal) does not include a mahr, and does not include the women’s desire and the woman’s consent, then this is shigar. This is shigar, and there is scholarly consensus (ijma') on its invalidity, if it does not include a mahr, but rather a woman is exchanged for a woman. This is an invalid marriage, and this is the shigar that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) prohibited.
As for when there is a mahr, the mahr of the like (mahr al-mithl), and there is mutual consent from the women, desire from the women, and no coercion, then the scholars have differed on this. The majority hold that it is not shigar and that it is permissible, due to the removal of harm and the fulfillment of the condition, which is the presence of a sufficient mahr for each of the two women, and that there is no harm to them, as long as they have consented to this, for the right belongs to them. And a group of scholars held that it is also shigar, even if there is a mahr, considering this to be shigar, making it an invalid marriage. The argument of the first group is that Ibn 'Umar, the narrator of the hadith, explained shigar as marrying a woman in exchange for a woman, and there is no shigar between them. The people of the second opinion say that this is an explanation from the narrator, and it is not traced back to the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), so the generality of the prohibition of shigar remains in its full scope, and this explanation is merely the narrator’s independent legal reasoning (ijtihad). Yes.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، 6282- معنى نكاح البدل أو الشغار المنهي عنه - الشيخ صالح الفوزان — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.