Nikah to a Non-Equal

Question

Hinda, an adult girl who is a Sayyid or a Shaykh, in the absence of her guardian (wali) contracts nikah with a certain Zayd, a weaver or oil-presser or the like, of low caste. On learning of it, the wali is displeased with this nikah. Will this nikah be valid or not?

Answer

When a Sayyid girl or any girl of high lineage (even if she is not a Sayyid but from the Shaykhs — the Siddiqis or Faruqis) marries herself to a non-equal, that is, to a young man of a family that is not her equal in lineage but of lower rank, then according to the view on which fatwa is given (mufta bihi), her nikah is not valid.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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