Kafa‘a (Parity in Marriage) in India

Question

Question: What is the view of the jurists of the umma regarding inter-communal marriage in India? Under the words [ar]لأن العجم ضيعوا أنسابهم[/ar] “because the non-Arabs (‘ajam) have lost their genealogies”, the respected Mawlana ‘Abd al-Hayy ﵀ writes in the gloss (hashiya) on Sharh al-Wiqaya: [ar]لأن العجم المراد بهم من لم ينتسب إلى إحدى قبائل العرب، وعامته أهل الأمصار والقرى في زماننا منهم، سواء تكلموا بالعربية أو غيرها، إلا من كان له عنهم نسب معروف، كالمنتسبين إلى أحد الخلفاء أو إلى الأنصار وغيرهم[/ar] “Because…

Answer

Among those tribes that came from Arabia and settled here and preserved their genealogies, kafa‘a (parity) in lineage is recognised and taken into account; among the tribes that are not such, the other aspects of kafa‘a will be taken into account: religiousness (diyana), occupation (hirfa) and so on.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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