The Issue of Kafa’a (Parity in Marriage)

Question

In the section on equality (kuf’), the author of al-Hidaya quotes in his book, on p. 301, a statement of Imam Abu Yusuf ﵀ whose meaning is that lowly trades are taken into account in parity; among the lowly trades he counted the weaver, the cupper-barber, the tanner (dabbagh) and the sweeper (kannas), and he stated that these people cannot be equal matches for the money-changer and the cloth merchant (bazzaz). The gloss (hashiya)

Answer

The consideration of parity (kafa’a) as such is present in hidden revelation (wahy khafi — the noble hadith), as transmitted by al-Tirmidhi, al-Hakim, al-Dhahabi, al-Suyuti, al-Bayhaqi and Ibn Maja. The further details were derived (istinbat) by the jurists, and just as the other rulings derived by the jurists are reliable, so is this one.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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