Chapter: Women Forbidden in Marriage

A General Rule Concerning Women Forbidden in Marriage through Blood or Marital Ties

The shaykh—may Allah have mercy on him—was asked to explain this briefly.

He replied:

Praise be to Allah, Lord of all worlds. As for women forbidden in marriage through blood relationship, the governing rule is that all of a man’s female blood relatives are forbidden to him except the daughters of his paternal uncles, maternal uncles, paternal aunts, and maternal aunts.

These four categories are those whom Allah made lawful for His Messenger, peace and blessings be upon him, when He said:

“O Prophet, We have made lawful for you your wives to whom you have given their dowries, those whom your right hand possesses from what Allah has granted you, the daughters of your paternal uncles, paternal aunts, maternal uncles, and maternal aunts who emigrated with you, and a believing woman if she offers herself to the Prophet and the Prophet wishes to marry her—a privilege for you alone, not for the other believers.”

And so the verse continues. Thus Allah, glorified be He, made four categories of women lawful for His Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him. Of these, He made only the woman who offers herself to the Prophet exclusively lawful for him, to the exclusion of other believers. He made this one of his unique privileges: he could marry a woman who offered herself to him without a dowry. By the unanimous agreement of the Muslims, this is not permitted to anyone else.

Rather, no one else may lawfully have marital relations with a woman unless a dowry is due to her, as Allah Most High says:

“Lawful to you are all women beyond these, provided that you seek them with your wealth in marriage, not in fornication.”

The scholars agree that if a man marries a woman without specifying a dowry, the marriage is valid, and she becomes entitled to a dowry if he consummates the marriage with her. If he divorces her before consummation, she is not entitled to a dowry; rather,