Continuation of the detailed explanation of prohibited marriages and the prohibition through affinity.

The Shaykh : The husband’s son wants to marry his father’s wife’s mother. Is this permissible?
The students: It is permissible.

The Shaykh : Yes, and this is the meaning of our saying “specifically.” Pay attention to this. The word “specifically” means that the prohibition does not apply to anyone other than the husband. Therefore, it is permissible for his son to marry his father’s wife’s mother. Now, what about his father’s wife’s daughter? Is it permissible or not? Is it permissible for the son to marry his father’s wife’s daughter?
The students: Yes.

The Shaykh : Wrong, wrong, wrong. It is permissible for the son to marry his father’s wife’s daughter.
The students: ...

The Shaykh : Look, if it is his mother, it is not permissible, why? Because she is his sister. But if she is from another wife, it is permissible. Now, understand these rules regarding the in-law as well. How many categories are there for the prohibited in-laws? Four categories: The husband’s father, however high up the lineage, and his son, however low down the lineage, but only with respect to the wife herself, not her relatives. This prohibition is established by the mere contract of marriage. The wife’s daughter, however low down the lineage, and her mother, however high up the lineage, but only with respect to the husband himself, not his relatives. However, a condition is required for the daughter: that he must have had intercourse with her mother, meaning he must have consummated the marriage. Mere seclusion is not sufficient. So, if a man contracts a marriage with a woman and then divorces her before having intercourse with her, and he wants to marry her daughter later, is it permissible or not? It is permissible. Now, in the Noble Qur’an and in this hadith with us, the prohibition—specifically the prohibition of the stepdaughter—is conditioned on two requirements: that he must have had intercourse with her mother, and that she must be in the husband’s care. This is why this story came about, where the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said meaning, how is it that she is a stepdaughter? Two causes converged in her case. Now, the verse and the hadith contain two conditions: that he must have had intercourse with the mother, and that she must be in his care, meaning the wife’s daughter must be in the husband’s care. Are these two conditions established in the sense that if one of them is missing, the prohibition is not established? The answer is: If the intercourse is missing, the prohibition is not established. If the condition of being in his care is missing, the prohibition is established. Someone might ask: How do you distinguish between them when they are two conditions established in the same context? We say that Allah the Exalted explicitly stated the implication of His saying and remained silent regarding the implication of His saying . This indicates that the description, or the condition of being in the care, is not intended, but it is based on the majority of cases. Is that clear, everyone? This is why He said and did not say, “And if they are not in your care, there is no blame on you.” As for the hadith narrated by Muslim (may Allah have mercy on him), this is Umm Habibah (may Allah be pleased with her) who proposed to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) that he marry her sister. He said to her, “Do you like that?” Because the custom is that a woman does not like anyone to share her husband. She informed him that she liked this, because it is not possible for Umm Habibah to be the only wife of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him); she is not exclusive to him. And she preferred that her sister share in this good, so she wanted to do her a favor. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) clarified that she is not lawful for him. Why? Because she is the sister of his wife, and Allah the Exalted said Then she presented a dilemma to the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), which was that he mentioned that he wanted to propose to whom? Durrah, the daughter of Abu Salmah. He said, “The daughter of Umm Salmah?” I said, “Yes.” He said So the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) mentioned two disqualifying descriptions: first, that she is his stepdaughter in his care, and second, that she is the daughter of his brother through breastfeeding. So he is her maternal uncle, and he is the husband of her mother. Two causes converged in this. He wanted, peace and blessings be upon him, to clarify that he cannot propose to this woman, who is Durrah, the daughter of Abu Salmah. Then he mentioned that Thawiyah breastfed him and her father. Thawiyah was a slave woman of Abu Lahab who breastfed whom? The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) and Abu Salmah. Then he said Yes.

The questioner : Shaykh, may Allah bless you, I mean, what is the wisdom and the reason... It came in the hadith, and also in the verse... and it was not... only because...

The Shaykh : No, we say this is not a precautionary measure, because when Allah mentioned the two qualifiers, He said So He explicitly stated the implication of one qualifier and remained silent regarding the implication of the other qualifier. This indicates that the other qualifier has no effect on the issue of permissibility or prohibition.

The questioner : Yes, you mentioned this. This... the report?

The Shaykh : The report is referred to. Yes.

The questioner : ...

The Shaykh : What?

The questioner : ...

The Shaykh : This will come to us, if Allah wills. Yes.