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Marriage and family: lawfulness and statuses, engagement, nikah pillars and conditions, mahr, wilaya and kafa'a, impediments, walima and nafqa. Each page presents the ruling, the evidence and the schools' differences. Divorce, custody and other family topics come in later sub-tranches.
Contents
Updated on 25 September 2026 at 3:23 PM
The scholars recall that marriage takes the 5 rulings of the Law: obligatory, recommended, permitted, disliked, forbidden. Each school gives the details: the ruling depends on the person's situation, not on the contract itself. For all 4 schools, the base rule is that the nikah is a desirable sunna, not a general duty.
The jurists agree: whoever fears falling into sin if he stays single must marry, since protecting oneself from the unlawful is a duty, and marriage is the path to it. This obligation assumes he can pay the mahr and the maintenance, even through a loan according to one view. The Hanafis add: if a man cannot restrain himself by fasting or any other means, marriage becomes a duty upon him. And if marrying would mean wronging the wife, the fear of wronging her takes precedence and marriage becomes disliked.
For the majority, one who feels desire without fearing sin: marriage is recommended for him. The Hanafis count it as an emphasized sunna at a balanced state; the Malikis recommend it to whoever needs it and has the means (mahr, maintenance, clothing) without fearing hardship; Shafi'is and Hanbalis rely on this hadith.
O young people, whoever among you can afford it, let him marry: it lowers the gaze and protects the body. Whoever cannot, let him fast: it is a shield for him.al-Bukhari 4778, 4779 ; Muslim 1400
Marriage is simply permitted for one who feels no special need: he earns no special reward nor blame, unless he does it with the intention of establishing the sunna. It is disliked: for the Hanafis, when one fears wronging the wife; for the Shafi'is, when he has neither need nor capacity, or when the wife would not be protected by this bond; for the Malikis, when it leads to neglecting a recommended act.
Marriage falls into the forbidden as soon as a legislated impediment exists: marrying a woman who is mahram by kinship, breastfeeding or affinity, joining 2 sisters, marrying the wife of another (forbidden by consensus), a woman in her waiting period, or a woman who does not worship Allah among the polytheists. These prohibitions are detailed on the page about the impediments to marriage.
These 5 rulings, drawn from the manuals of the 4 schools, show a balance: no heavy obligation, and no random choice. Each person examines his own case and refers to a scholar for the verdict.