The Age Considered for the Guardian of a Woman
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Since we have been discussing the guardian for marriage, this is a message from the sender (S. A.) Al-Aql from Riyadh. He says: What is the age considered for a person to be the guardian of a woman and for it to be permissible for him to marry her off?
Answer: It is reaching puberty. If he has reached puberty and is of sound mind, meaning he can assess men and knows who is more suitable than who is less suitable, this is the age. If he has reached the age of maturity by completing fifteen years, or by having a wet dream, by the emission of semen through a wet dream or while awake, or by the growth of coarse hair around the private parts, meaning the hair, then he is accountable, provided he has discernment. That is, he distinguishes men, he knows, he has sound judgment, he knows the standing of men and their ranks. This is called a guardian, and he has the authority to marry her off. However, if he is below the age of puberty, or if he is weak in insight, not good, lacking sound judgment, then someone else marries her off. Yes, the one who is more deserving than him and possesses the qualities that should be in a guardian marries her off, even if he is more distant in kinship.
So if her brother has this characteristic, meaning he has not reached the age of maturity, or he has reached it but lacks insight, lacks sound judgment, then her uncle marries her off, if she has an uncle after her brother, if he is the closest person to her after the brother, or her brother's son, if she has a son who is sound and good, then the guardianship belongs to him rather than to her father who is not a guide due to the weakness of his intellect.
So the result is that her sound guardian who knows men marries her off. Soundness here means knowing the suitable candidates. Yes.
Answer: It is reaching puberty. If he has reached puberty and is of sound mind, meaning he can assess men and knows who is more suitable than who is less suitable, this is the age. If he has reached the age of maturity by completing fifteen years, or by having a wet dream, by the emission of semen through a wet dream or while awake, or by the growth of coarse hair around the private parts, meaning the hair, then he is accountable, provided he has discernment. That is, he distinguishes men, he knows, he has sound judgment, he knows the standing of men and their ranks. This is called a guardian, and he has the authority to marry her off. However, if he is below the age of puberty, or if he is weak in insight, not good, lacking sound judgment, then someone else marries her off. Yes, the one who is more deserving than him and possesses the qualities that should be in a guardian marries her off, even if he is more distant in kinship.
So if her brother has this characteristic, meaning he has not reached the age of maturity, or he has reached it but lacks insight, lacks sound judgment, then her uncle marries her off, if she has an uncle after her brother, if he is the closest person to her after the brother, or her brother's son, if she has a son who is sound and good, then the guardianship belongs to him rather than to her father who is not a guide due to the weakness of his intellect.
So the result is that her sound guardian who knows men marries her off. Soundness here means knowing the suitable candidates. Yes.
Source
binbaz.org.sa
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.
