Who Has Guardianship: the Brother or the Paternal Uncle?

Question

There is a girl, Hinda, who has not yet reached maturity, and her father has passed away. This girl has one paternal half-brother ('allati) and one full paternal uncle. Which of these two is the prior guardian (wali)? The girl's brother is not present here. If the full paternal uncle has the marriage contract ('aqd) of this girl concluded, is this contract valid according to the Shari‘a or not, or is the permission of this girl's brother specifically required?

Answer

The guardianship in nikah of the paternal half-brother takes precedence over the guardianship of the paternal uncle; thus it is in “Radd al-Muhtar”, vol. 2, p. 481. If the brother is in so distant a place that there is a strong fear of the opportunity being lost in obtaining his opinion, then it is permissible for the uncle as well to conclude the nikah; otherwise, if the…

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

Preview. The full text opens with JavaScript enabled.