Marriage to a Non-Equal

Question

A man of the Jandra community, whose paternal relatives and kinsmen work as oil-pressers, stealthily, in the middle of the night, takes away a girl aged 14/15, of the Sayyid community, of sound lineage, of the Ahl al-Sunna wa’l-Jama‘a and Hanafi by madhhab. If the said man marries the said girl, can it remain permissible or not as regards parity (kafa’a)? Moreover, the said man is of bad conduct, a scoundrel and a drunkard, and has no means of livelihood; he just wanders about idle. Explain and be rewarded.

Answer

According to the view on which the fatwa is given (mufta bihi), this nikah will not be valid. However, if the girl’s guardians consent to this nikah, or she has no guardian at all, then this nikah will be valid.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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