Q & A

Question

Whom can we marry and who can we not?

I have met a girl and I would like to marry her, but my parents do not agree to the marriage, and want me to marry someone else from our lot. Whose decision is it to make?

Salaam.

Answer

On the question of marriage, a Muslim man may marry any other Muslim woman or a woman from the Ahl-ul-Kitab (Jews or Christians) but he may not marry a Kaffir woman.

When a man and a woman want to marry, the restriction is that they must both agree to the marriage. If one of them does not agree to the marriage, then their marriage is void.

In the case of marriage with a virgin girl, the permission of the father or the grandfather of the girl is also required as well as her agreement to the marriage.

In your case, if you want to marry someone but your family does not wish you to, try to obtain your parents agreement for the marriage. You need their blessings for your marriage, and also in the long term, you need their support and you want to establish a good relationship between you and them as well as your in-laws. So it is in your best interest to obtain your parents agreement but at the end of the day the decision is yours and yours only.