Nikah of an Adult Woman without Her Permission

Question

Question: My own father, Muhammad Isma‘il, married me against my will to one Khuda Bakhsh, son of Miyan Khayr al-Din. I am a virgin and an adult. I was told nothing about this nikah; neither my father nor anyone else asked my permission, and no offer and acceptance (ijab and qabul) was carried out. Moreover, the said Khuda Bakhsh is a fasiq (sinner), dissolute, a fornicator, unemployed and elderly. Furthermore, I have not even gone to my in-laws’, that is, to Khuda Bakhsh’s house, to this day.

Answer

No one has the guardianship of compulsion (wilayat al-ijbar) over an adult virgin; that is, no one — neither the father nor anyone else — can conclude her nikah by force without her consent. And if someone does so, this nikah will remain mawquf (suspended) pending the permission of this adult woman.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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