Nikah of a Girl of the Cotton-Carder Caste with a Pashtun

Question

Sulayman Khan, a Pashtun, ran off with Shafi‘a Begum, the adult daughter of Rashid Ahmad, a cotton-carder, and, having gone somewhere, Sulayman Khan contracted nikah with Shafi‘a Begum’s consent, without the consent of her parents. A month later Rashid Ahmad had the girl detained through the police, took her on his own surety and brought her home. Many people say that the nikah of the cotton-carder’s daughter with Sulayman did not take effect, because he is from another biradari (kinship community)

Answer

Among the Indian lineages, parity (kafa'a) in descent is not taken into account; hence this reason is not sufficient for declaring this nikah invalid or having it annulled. However, if the girl’s father is a very righteous man who follows the Sunna, while the Pashtun who ran off with the girl is a vagabond of bad conduct, immersed in indecencies, and this bad conduct of his is…

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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