they marry them off without a dowry that brings any benefit to the women themselves. The guardians simply hand the girls over in a way that satisfies their own passions, presenting them to other men on the condition that those men will in return marry them their own wards—again with no dowry at all. This is blatant injustice and an unlawful disposal of their private parts in a manner not sanctioned by Allah; anything of that nature is forbidden and invalid.

Points derived from the ḥadīth

1. The ḥadīth forbids a shighār marriage, and a clear prohibition renders the contract invalid.
2. The reason for its prohibition and invalidity is the absence of both a named dowry and the customary dowry, as indicated by the Prophet’s words: “wa laysa baynahumā ṣadaq” (and no dowry is stipulated between them).
3. The guardian must act sincerely on behalf of the woman under his care; he may not marry her to someone who is not suitable (kufʾ) merely to serve his own aims or interests.
4. Since the defect that nullifies this marriage is the lack of a dowry, it is permissible for one guardian to marry off his ward on condition that the other guardian marry him his ward with an adequate and appreciable dowry, provided both couples are compatible and each party is pleased with the arrangement.
5. Concerning the phrase, “al-shighār is when a man … ,” Ibn Ḥajar notes that the narrations from Mālik differ over to whom the explanation should be attributed. Most leave it unattributed, which is also al-Shāfiʿī’s stance; he said, “I do not know whether this definition comes from the Prophet ﷺ, from Ibn ʿUmar, from Nāfiʿ, or from Mālik.” Some have traced it to Nāfiʿ. Moreover, it is not limited to a daughter; it applies to any female ward. Al-Qurṭubī adds that the definition is sound and agrees with linguistic usage: if it is Prophetic, that settles the matter; if it is a Companion’s statement, it is still acceptable, for the Companion best understood both the wording and the context.
6. The scholars unanimously agree that this form of marriage is forbidden, yet they differ over whether the contract is void. Abū Ḥanīfah deems the marriage valid, obligating the husband to pay the woman the customary mahr. Al-Shāfiʿī and Aḥmad hold that the contract is invalid because a prohibition entails corruption. Al-Jāmiʿ reports another view from Imām Aḥmad that it is void even if a dowry is stipulated; this was chosen by al-Khirāqī, relying on the general wording of the two Ṣaḥīḥ reports from Ibn ʿUmar—“The Messenger of Allah ﷺ forbade al-shighār”—and the similar narration in Muslim from Abū Hurayrah. Abū Dāwūd considered the explanatory clause, “and no dowry is stipulated between them,” to be Nāfiʿ’s own words. This latter view was preferred by the hadith scholar Shaykh ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Bāz—may Allah preserve him—in his treatise on invalid marriages. Allah knows best.