852 – Nāfiʿ narrates from Ibn ʿUmar (may Allah be pleased with them both): “The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade shighār. Shighār is when one man marries off his daughter to another man on the condition that the latter marries off his own daughter to him, and no dower is exchanged between them.” Agreed upon. The two Compilers also relate, in another chain, that this definition of shighār comes from Nāfiʿ himself. ⦗1⦘

Vocabulary of the ḥadīth
• shighār: pronounced with a kasrah on the shīn and a light ghayn. Linguistically it means “raising”; the Arabs say, “The dog shaghara (raised) its leg to urinate.”
• In juristic usage: for a guardian to marry his female ward to a man on the condition that the latter marry his own ward to him, with no dower between the two couples, or with a token dower used merely as a ruse.
Al-Khaṭṭābī said: It is called shighār because the contract is lifted (shughir) from its very root, so both the marriage and the dower are rendered void.

Points derived from the ḥadīth

1. Shighār marriages are prohibited, and a prohibition implies invalidity; therefore such a marriage is unsound.
2. The reason for its prohibition and invalidity is the absence of a specified dower or a dower equal to that of similar brides, as indicated by the phrase “and no dower is exchanged between them.”
3. A guardian must act sincerely on behalf of his female ward; he may not marry her to someone who is not her equal merely to serve his own interests.
4. Since the absence of a dower is the cause of invalidity, it is permissible for two men to marry off their respective wards to each other with a substantial dower, provided there is parity between the spouses and mutual consent.
5. Regarding the wording “shighār is when a man …,” Ibn Ḥajar said: the scholars have differed