- “Do not marry women whom your fathers married” (Qur’an 4:22). After listing the remaining forbidden categories, He says: “All others beyond these are lawful for you” (Qur’an 4:24).
• In these verses the Creator has completely set forth the women who are prohibited for marriage on account of blood-relation (nasab), nursing (radāʿ), and marital affinity (muṣāharah).
• First, those prohibited through muṣāharah: when a man marries a woman, four legal consequences follow:
– That wife becomes permanently unlawful to all of his sons, however far down the line, whether by birth or by nursing.
– She is likewise unlawful to all of his fathers, however far up the line, whether by birth or by nursing.
– Her mother becomes forbidden to him immediately.
– As for her daughter: if he has consummated the marriage with the wife, the daughter also becomes forbidden to him and is deemed a step-daughter, with no distinction whether she was born of a previous husband or of another husband after him.
• Second, those prohibited by nasab:
– Mothers: every woman who gave birth to you—anyone you call mother or grandmother, however far up the lineage from any branch.
– Daughters: every female who calls you father or grandfather, including the daughters of your sons and the daughters of your daughters, however far down.
– Sisters: whether full sisters, paternal sisters, or maternal sisters.
– And without exception, the daughters of your brothers and the daughters of your sisters.