virginity, minority, both together, or either one independently? These are four views within the school of Ahmad and elsewhere. The correct view is that minority is the ground for compelling marriage, and that no one may compel an adult virgin woman to marry.

For it is authentically reported that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“A virgin must not be married until her permission is sought, nor a previously married woman until she is consulted.” He was asked, “But is a virgin not too shy?” He replied, “Her silence is her permission.”

Another authentic wording states:

“A virgin’s father must seek her permission.”

Thus, the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, prohibited marrying her without first seeking her permission. This applies to her father and anyone else. The other authentic narration makes this explicit: the father himself must seek her permission.

Furthermore, if she possesses sound judgment, her father may not dispose of her property without her permission. Her marriage is a far weightier matter than her property. How, then, may he arrange her marriage against her will when she possesses sound judgment?

Moreover, minority is a ground for restricting legal capacity, as established by the scriptural texts and scholarly consensus. Treating virginity as necessitating such restrictions, however, contradicts the fundamental principles of Islam. The Lawgiver has not made virginity a ground for restricting legal capacity in any matter on which there is consensus. To justify such restrictions on that basis is therefore to invoke an attribute that has no legal effect under Islamic law.

Furthermore, those who permit compulsion have differed over the case in which she chooses a suitable match and her father chooses another suitable match: should her choice prevail, or her father’s? There are two views within the schools of al-Shāfi‘ī and Ahmad. Whoever gives decisive weight to her choice contradicts his own underlying principle, whereas whoever gives