that she is free of defects. What, then, is the معيار (criterion) for judging whether she is beautiful or not? For what one person considers beautiful may not be considered beautiful by another; every little girl is a gazelle in her mother’s eyes. Thus, if the husband, the wife, and her family disagree—though this may be unlikely—then, should they disagree, the matter is referred to discerning women. This shows the importance of a suitor seeing his prospective bride. The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, therefore instructed that this be done (1), for once he has seen her, he has no excuse left and enters the marriage with clear knowledge. Thus, if he did not stipulate that she be beautiful and she then proves to be unattractive, he has no right to annul the marriage, so long as he made no such stipulation; for beauty is something beyond the basic presumption.

His statement, “or of good lineage”: that is, he stipulates that she be of good lineage—meaning, what we call a woman of tribal lineage—but she then proves not to be of tribal lineage. The people from whom he married are called Qabīlī, and names are often shared: some people are Qabīlī while others are not, yet they have the same name. Thus, he married her on the condition that she was from among the Qabīlī, but she then proves not to be so; in that case, he has the right to annul the marriage.

His statement, “or that she be free of a defect that does not render the marriage subject to annulment, but she proves otherwise, then he has the right to annul it”: this means that he stipulates the absence of a defect that does not render the marriage subject to annulment. For defects are of two categories: one category consists of defects which, if found in the woman, entitle the husband to annul the marriage; this will come, Allah willing, at the end of the chapter. The other category consists of defects which, if found in the woman, do not