A Nikah Contracted by the Stepfather

Question

A girl was murahiqa (close to maturity). Her father died when she was a child, and her full paternal uncle was alive. While he was present, a person who was not her guardian (wali), having taken the girl’s permission, contracted her nikah. Was this nikah valid or not? The one who is not her wali is the girl’s stepfather. The girl reached maturity six months after the nikah. Now she refuses to go to her husband’s home.

Answer

This nikah was mawquf (suspended) upon the uncle’s permission. If the uncle neither permitted it nor rejected it, then, after the girl reached maturity, it became suspended upon her own permission. If she rejected it and did not accept it, this nikah has ended according to the Shari‘a; now it is permitted to contract nikah elsewhere with the girl’s permission.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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