Allah Most High says:

“Marry off the unmarried among you and the righteous among your male and female slaves.”

He also says:

“Do not give women in marriage to polytheistic men until they believe.”

He thus addresses men, instructing them to marry off the unmarried, just as He instructs them to arrange marriages for slaves. There is a distinction between His words, “Do not give women in marriage to polytheistic men,” and His words, “Do not marry polytheistic women.” Some of the early generations from the Prophet’s household cited this distinction as evidence.

Moreover, Allah has made the dower obligatory in other passages, but has not made witnessing obligatory. Whoever says that marriage is valid even when a dower is expressly excluded, yet invalid without witnesses, has dispensed with something Allah made obligatory and imposed something Allah did not make obligatory.

This helps demonstrate that the position of the scholars of Medina and the scholars of hadith, who prohibit “shighār marriage,” is sounder than that of the scholars of Kufa. It also demonstrates that the reason for this prohibition is specifically the exclusion of a dower. Wherever there is a dower, the marriage is valid, as the scholars of Medina maintain. This is also the more explicit and unequivocal of the two reports from Ahmad ibn Hanbal, and the position preferred by his early followers.

This and similar examples demonstrate the greater strength of the positions held by the scholars of hadith and transmitted reports, and by the scholars of the Hijaz—such as those of Medina—over contrary positions based on legal opinions that conflict with the scriptural texts. Nevertheless, those jurists who arrived at opinions contrary to the texts after exercising independent judgment and exhausting their efforts—may Allah be pleased with them—did all they could to seek knowledge and strove to reach the correct judgment. Allah rewards them, and in doing so they are obedient to Allah, Glorified is He. Allah rewards them for their efforts: He has thus rewarded them for this, even though those who knew what the scriptural texts taught