Chapter: Conditions Stipulated in Marriage

By “conditions in marriage” we mean any term that either spouse places upon the other in the contract for a legitimate benefit.

Such conditions are effective when they are written into the contract itself or when both parties agreed to them beforehand.

They fall into two categories: valid and invalid.

First: Valid conditions in marriage

1. The majority consider it valid if a wife stipulates that the husband must divorce her co-wife, because this secures a benefit for her. Other scholars deem the condition invalid, since the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade a woman to insist on her sister’s divorce so that she might overturn what is in her bowl; and a prohibition indicates invalidity.

2. Also valid is the wife’s stipulation that he neither takes a concubine nor marries another woman. If he honors the condition, so be it; but if he violates it, she has the right to annul the marriage, in light of the hadith: “The conditions most worthy of fulfillment are those by which you made private parts lawful for yourselves.”