Or if he stipulates that she be a virgin, beautiful, of good lineage, or free of a defect that does not render the marriage subject to annulment, and she proves to be otherwise, then he has the right to annul the marriage, ………
His statement, “or if he stipulates that she be a virgin”: that is, if she proves to have been previously married, he has the right to annul the marriage and may seek recourse against the one who deceived him.
It is understood from his words that if he did not stipulate that she be a virgin, he has no right to annul the marriage—even if he knew that she had never previously married. For she may never have married, yet have lost her virginity: either through fornication under compulsion—Allah protect us—or through her own tampering with her virginity until it was lost, or by falling onto something. In short, virginity may be lost even if a woman has never married. Accordingly, if it becomes apparent that she is not a virgin, he has no option to annul the marriage, because he did not stipulate it. Even if he merely assumed that she was a virgin, he has no such option.
However, if she has not previously married, the presumption is that she is a virgin. If it were said that this is a condition established by custom, there would be some basis for it. To see the weakness in the contrary view, imagine that someone says, “I give you my daughter in marriage,” while it is known that she has never married, and the prospective husband says, “On condition that she is a virgin.” What would the guardian's reaction be? He might reject the prospective husband altogether, saying, “He has accused my daughter of immorality.” Therefore, the correct view in this matter is that, where it is not known that she has previously married, stipulating that she be a virgin is understood by custom; and if it were expressly stipulated, people would regard it as foolishness.
His statement, “or beautiful”: that is, he stipulates that she be beautiful, but when he goes in to her, he finds that she is not beautiful; then he has the right to annul the marriage. But if he did not stipulate that she be beautiful, he has no right to annul it.
A woman falls into one of three categories: beautiful; unattractive and possessing defects; or average—neither notably beautiful nor among those regarded as defective. As for his saying, “I married her only on the basis that she was among the most beautiful of women,” this is not correct. Rather, if he finds defects in her, we may say that the presumption is