‘The stipulations most deserving of fulfilment are those by which you have made marital intimacy lawful.’” This is also the apparent meaning of the passage in the section entitled “Halaf” in the reports heard from Ibn al-Qāsim, in the Book of Marriage in al-‘Utbiyyah. The established, well-known position in the school is that these stipulations are not binding, although fulfilling them is recommended. They fall into two categories. The first comprises stipulations made in the marriage contract without specifying the dower, as when a man says, “I give you my daughter in marriage on condition that you do not marry another woman alongside her, or that you do not take her away from the town,” and similar stipulations. The second comprises stipulations attached to the dower specified either in the marriage contract or subsequently.

When such stipulations are made in the contract without specifying the dower, they are not binding. An example is a woman saying, “I marry you on condition that you do not marry another woman alongside me, or that you do not take me away from the town,” and similar stipulations.

If the stipulations accompany the specification of the dower in the contract, as when she says, “I marry you for such-and-such an amount on condition that you do not do such-and-such,” the stipulation is likewise not binding upon him according to Mālik. By analogy with his position, the marriage should be annulled before consummation but upheld afterwards, with the wife entitled to whichever is greater: the customary dower for a woman of her standing or the specified dower. This is because she agreed to marry him for the specified dower only on those conditions. If the conditions are not binding upon him, the dower she agreed to is not binding upon her.

If the stipulations accompany a subsequent specification of the dower, they are likewise not binding, and the matter must be examined. If the specified amount is less than the customary dower for a woman of her standing, she is entitled to have it made up to that amount. The marriage remains valid and is not annulled, because its contract preceded the stipulation. Success comes from Allah, glorified and exalted is He.

Section
The Ruling on Invalid Marriages

Marriage falls into two categories: valid and invalid. A valid marriage is one sanctioned by the Sunnah and the Quran. Invalid marriages fall into three categories: marriages invalid because of the contract itself, marriages invalid because of the dower, and marriages invalid because of invalid stipulations attached to them.

Marriages invalid because of the contract itself fall into two categories: those whose invalidity is agreed upon and those whose invalidity is disputed. Examples of the former include marrying a woman whom one is permanently forbidden to marry through blood relationship or breastfeeding, and marrying a woman during