The Ruling on Marriage Without a Guardian in Lands of Disbelief

Al-Halabi : Regarding the hadith , some of the brothers ask, for example, in Europe, sometimes a Bedouin man wants to get married. You find there sometimes some Muslim women, but their fathers do not ask about them, or some Christian women if a Bedouin wants to marry her. There is no permission there; there is a lot of disintegration. A woman does not ask her father for permission. If she did ask her father, he would say this is not normal. So in this case, what is the ruling if the natural thing is that the guardian is not asked for permission, but the marriage is, of course, known, registered, and documented, and everything else?

The Shaykh : Before this question, a question should be directed: How is the contract? Is it in the church?
Al-Halabi : No, it is not in the church.

The Shaykh : Okay. So now, our brother Mahmoud Murad, who is in America or Canada, asks these kinds of questions very often. As you mentioned, in lands of disbelief where there is no one to rule by Islam, as a local solution, there must be a committee or a group of Muslims from the best of the residents in those lands who represent the Shari'ah judiciary. And then, if a Muslim man proposes to a Muslim or disbelieving woman and it is not possible to obtain the guardian's permission, the judge is the guardian of the one who has no guardian. This committee acts as the judge. Yes. But if individuals take it upon themselves, it will become chaos; it will be like zina (unlawful sexual intercourse) exactly. Therefore, the matter must be regulated within the possible limits, and it is not permissible... absolutely not.

The questioner : If there is an imam of the mosque here...

The Shaykh : Yes, but I do not mean only the imam of the mosque, because the imam of the mosque is usually a simple man who may be good at recitation or may not, and he may not know the rulings of prayer or he may know them. But if it is a committee of trustworthy Muslims who look into the interests of the Muslims, then the matter will be stronger. For example, now, if there is a dispute in these lands, and the guardian of a daughter does not allow the contract, the situation does not proceed. The suitor and two witnesses go to the imam of the mosque and they contract it. They need to refer the matter to the Shari'ah court. We want a group or a committee that takes the place of the Shari'ah court. The imam of the mosque is not like that; it is not sufficient, even if he is a scholar.

The questioner : If the... came, and a divorced woman came and a man wanted to marry her, and she said, "I have no guardian," and the judge was the guardian, and it was done, meaning...

The Shaykh : He took charge of her matter. Meaning, did he... not allow it?

The questioner : ... The judge alone took charge of the matter.

The Shaykh : Sufficient.

The questioner : It is said here that he rules by the Shari'ah, my Shaykh.

The Shaykh : Sufficient. But here there is a note: The Shari'ah judges, let alone the legal judges, you know that there is a marriage called civil marriage. This is one of the tragedies and evils of Gamal Abdel Nasser. Some Shari'ah judges, let alone legal judges, adopt the school of Abu Hanifah, which says that if a woman reaches the age of puberty, she is free and can marry herself without the permission of her guardian. So here, this judge that you referred to, or one like him, must be observed: Is he contracting for her on the basis that he adopts the Hanafi school legally, or does he adopt his saying (peace and blessings be upon him) "If they differ..." If this judge's starting point is this, that is good. But if his starting point is the Hanafi school, whether there is a guardian or not, then this is not permissible.