by his mother’s honour; therefore, compatibility is not taken into account for the woman vis-à-vis the man.
7 – Compatibility is considered for the binding force of the marriage contract, not for its validity, and it is assessed in five matters:
(a) Religion: performing the obligatory acts and avoiding the prohibitions; hence a flagrant sinner is not a suitable match for a chaste woman.
(b) Lineage: a non-Arab is not a suitable match for an Arab woman.
(c) Freedom: a slave is not a suitable match for a free woman.
(d) Occupation: a cupper, a weaver, or a garbage collector is not the equal of those engaged in prestigious professions.
(e) Wealth: an indigent man who owns nothing is not the equal of those who are well-to-do.
Compatibility in these five respects is a condition for the marriage to remain binding. If the woman’s guardians object to the husband because of his lack of compatibility, the marriage is annulled, for the disgrace falls upon them. Aḥmad, al-Nasāʾī, and Ibn Mājah have transmitted—with a chain whose transmitters are those of the authentic collections—on the authority of ʿAbd-Allāh ibn Buraydah, from his father, that a young woman came to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and said, “My father has married me to his nephew so that he might raise his own low status through me,” whereupon he left the matter to her discretion.
ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb ﵁ said, “I will certainly prevent women of noble descent from being married except to their peers.” [Reported by al-Dāraqutnī.]
Compatibility, however, is not a condition for the validity of the marriage. The Prophet ﷺ instructed Fāṭimah bint Qays, a Qurashī woman, to marry Usāmah ibn Zayd, who was a client (mawlā). Abū Ḥudhayfah—of Banū ʿAbd Manāf—also married his brother’s daughter to Sālim, who was the client of an Anṣārī woman. [Reported by al-Bukhārī.]
He ﷺ said, “When someone whose religion and character you are pleased with comes to you seeking marriage, then marry him off; if you do not, there will be turmoil on earth and widespread corruption,” and other evidences convey the same meaning.
Limiting compatibility to the bindingness of the contract rather than its validity is the position of the majority of scholars, including the three imams: Mālik, al-Shāfiʿī, and Aḥmad. Al-Muwaffaq said, “It is the view held by most scholars.”