Islamic Fiqh > Marriage and family > Wilaya (marital guardianship) and kafa'a > Wilaya in practice: the proxy (at-tawkil)
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Updated on 27 September 2026 at 3:52 AM
After the guardian (wali) and the equivalence of spouses (kafaa), wilaya in practice comes down to the proxy (wakil) and delegation (at-tawkil): who concludes the marriage contract, and on whose behalf? The jurists listed four forms in which one single person may cover both sides of the contract, then set the rules of delegation, including the delegation of the woman and of the notorious sinner (fasiq).
The jurists asked whether the husband may cover both sides of the contract, being a principal (asil) for himself and a guardian (wali) on the wife's side, like the paternal cousin who is the guardian of his minor cousin and wants to marry her himself: may he hold both sides of the contract, yes or no?
The Hanafis, except Zufar, the Malikis, the Shafi'is in one saying, and the Hanbalis in the madhhab hold that one single person may hold both sides of the contract: the husband is a principal for himself and a guardian for her, like the cousin who marries his cousin, the minor without her permission and the adult with her permission. The wording: "Witness that I have married my cousin so-and-so, daughter of so-and-so son of so-and-so, to myself."
Their evidence: what al-Bukhari reports in his Sahih, in the chapter: when the guardian is the suitor:
al-Mughira ibn Shu'ba proposed to a woman although he was the most entitled of people to take charge of her (as guardian), and he charged a man who married her (to him).
narrated by al-Bukhari in his Sahih; isnad details in Ibn Hajar, Taghliq al-Ta'liq (4/416, 417), al-Bayhaqi in al-Khilafiyyat and 'Abd al-Razzaq in his Musannaf
'Abd al-Rahman ibn 'Awf said to Umm Hakim bint Qariz: "Do you place your affair with me?" She said: "Yes." He said: "I have married you."
narrated by al-Bukhari in his Sahih; the full isnad is found with Ibn Sa'd in al-Tabaqat al-Kubra
The successor 'Ata' used to say: "Let him bear witness that he has married her, or let him charge a man of her family with marrying her." And Sahil reports that a woman offered herself to the Prophet, peace and blessings upon him; a man said: "O Messenger of Allah, if you have no need of her, marry her to me." Isnad details: 'Ata's statement appears with Ibn Abi Khaythama in his Tarikh and with 'Abd al-Razzaq in his Musannaf, where he also says: a woman in charge of her own affair, if witnesses are present, her marriage is valid without the guardians, although marriage through the guardian is dearer to him; the report of Sahil has its isnad cited by Ibn Hajar in several places of the Book of Marriage.
'A'isha, may Allah be pleased with her, commented on the verse: "They ask you for a ruling about women. Say: Allah gives you a ruling about them": "It is the orphan girl who lives in a man's household and shares his wealth; he no longer desires to marry her, yet he dislikes that another marry her lest he share his house and his money, so he keeps her suspended. Allah forbade them that." That is, He prevented them from marrying them because they were not fair in their dowries, and He allowed them to marry them from among themselves if they are fair in their dowries.
narrated by al-Bukhari in his Sahih (4838)
The verse is a decisive argument. The word of Allah:
"You do not give them what has been prescribed for them, while you desire to marry them"
Surah an-Nisa, 127
comes as a reproach, and no one is reproached for an impossible act, so the guardian marries his ward by himself. Allah blamed the guardians who married those having beauty and wealth without the dowry due to them, and blamed them for neglecting those lacking both: marriage concluded by the guardian himself is therefore valid, for no one is blamed for neglecting what is forbidden to him. The verse also proves that he marries her even if she is a minor, since Allah commands fairness to her in the dowry; had she been an adult, nothing would prevent marrying her for what the two agree upon: the word therefore concerns the one who has no say over herself.
And His saying: "Marry the single ones among you" (surah an-Nur 32) commands marriage in absolute terms, with no distinction between marrying the ward of another and marrying oneself.
The proxy in marriage is, moreover, not the contracting party: he is the contracting party's ambassador who conveys his word, the proof being that the rights of marriage do not revert to him. If he is an ambassador and holds guardianship over both spouses, his word stands for his principal's: his offer counts as the woman's word, as if she said "I have married myself to so-and-so", and his acceptance counts as the husband's word, as if he said "I accept". The contract thus rests on two persons by legal attribution, and what is established through attribution is joined to what is established in reality.
The jurists also agree that the one holding guardianship may marry (the one under his guardianship) while being at once the offerer and the acceptor; the same applies to marriage. The Prophet, peace and blessings upon him, married a woman to a man for what he had of the Quran; he could therefore have married her himself had he accepted her, as he did with Safiyya, making her manumission her dowry, and as with Juwayriyya, whose manumission contract he commuted by marrying her. The Messenger of Allah thus married his own freedwoman to himself, and he is the proof for everyone else.
He holds the offer and the acceptance, so he may hold both, as when he marries his slave woman to his young slave. It is a contract in which the offer comes from a guardian with established guardianship and the acceptance from a husband capable of accepting: it is valid as if both came from two men.
One divergence remains: must the offer and the acceptance be spoken, or does the offer alone suffice? Two sayings:
Imam Ahmad holds, in a narration chosen by al-Khiraqi, Ibn Abi Musa, Abu Hafs al-Barmaki, al-Qadi, al-Sharif, and Abu al-Khattab, and affirmed in the narration of eight of his companions, that it is not permitted to hold both sides of the contract: one must delegate a man to marry him to her with her permission. Ahmad said in the narration of Ibn Mansur: "He does not marry himself until he charges a man", based on the report of al-Mughira ibn Shu'ba: "he wanted to marry a woman, being closer to her than the one to whom he wanted to marry her; so he charged another, more distant, who married her to him" ('Abd al-Razzaq in his Musannaf (13127); Ibn Abi Shayba in his Musannaf (17488)). Marriage transfers rights by consent, so one person cannot hold both sides, like sale; this is what distinguishes it from marrying his slave woman to his young slave. According to this narration: if one delegates someone to accept for him while he himself pronounces the offer, the contract is valid.
The Shafi'is in the madhhab: neither the cousin nor anyone else may hold both sides of the marriage contract; this belongs to the grandfather (jadd) alone. The cousin does not marry himself: a cousin of his, full (shaqiq) or consanguine, of the same degree, marries her to him, provided he is equal to him in degree. If her guardian is a full cousin and there are two cousins, one full and one consanguine, the full one marries her (to him), if he is found.
If the one of the same degree is absent in fact or in law (for example a full cousin and another consanguine with him), the judge of her town, not the judge of his own town, marries him, in the soundest view, by virtue of general guardianship. Guardianship does not pass to the more distant one; however, if she says to her cousin or to the man who freed her: "marry me to yourself", the judge marries him with this permission, but not if she says "marry me to whomever you wish" or "marry me". According to another saying, guardianship passes to the more distant one, and the judge does not marry him.
Their evidence: the report handed down as marfu' (raised to the Prophet) and mawquf (stopped at a Companion): "No marriage without four: a suitor, a guardian, and two witnesses"; and from 'A'isha: "Marriage requires four: the guardian, the husband, and two witnesses."
"No marriage without four: a suitor, a guardian, and two witnesses"; in 'A'isha's wording: "Marriage requires four: the guardian, the husband, and two witnesses."
reported as marfu' by al-Bayhaqi from Abu Hurayra and by al-Daraqutni from 'A'isha; the mawquf of Ibn 'Abbas is authenticated by al-Bayhaqi in al-Khilafiyyat; isnad details in Ibn Hajar, Talkhis al-Habir (3/163)
This report is weak in both forms: al-Mughira ibn Musa al-Basri is declared "objectionable" (munkar) by al-Bukhari, and Abu al-Khasib Nafi' ibn Maysara is unknown; as for the mawquf of Ibn 'Abbas: "the minimum in marriage is four: the one who marries, the one who is married, and two witnesses."
Zufar said: marriage is not concluded at all with a single contracting party, for the pillar of marriage denotes two distinct sides, the offer and the acceptance, which stand only with two contracting parties, like the two sides of a sale.
Preliminary clarification from the Shafi'is in the soundest view: no one other than the grandfather may hold both sides of the contract; nor may he be a proxy for one side and hold the other side himself.
Third form: that one single person be the proxy for both contracting parties. The husband delegates someone for his marriage, and the woman or her guardian delegates this same man: he then holds both sides of the contract.
The Hanafis, the Malikis, the Shafi'is in one saying, and the Hanbalis: it is permitted for the proxy to hold both sides, being the proxy of the husband and the proxy of the wife's guardian or of the wife herself (according to the Hanafis), for he holds the offer and the acceptance, and the contract is valid as if both came from two men. It suffices that he say: "I have married so-and-so to so-and-so", a word that stands in place of an offer and an acceptance: this is the madhhab of the Hanafis, the Malikis, and the Hanbalis in the best-known view. In one position of the Hanbalis: he must say "I have married so-and-so to my proxy so-and-so, and I accept her marriage for my proxy", for what requires the offer requires the acceptance, as in every contract.
The Shafi'is in the soundest view: it is not valid for one person to be the proxy for both contracting parties; if the guardian delegates a man and the suitor delegates him as well, the contract does not stand.
Fourth form: the guardian of both parties (husband and wife) holds both sides of the contract: for example, the grandfather of both sides marries his son's daughter to the son of his other son; or the father marries his minor son to his brother's minor daughter whom he himself has freed.
The majority of jurists (Hanafis, Malikis, Shafi'is in the madhhab, Hanbalis): the grandfather may hold both sides of marrying his son's daughter, minor or adult, to another son's son over whom his guardianship extends. Likewise, the paternal uncle may marry his brother's daughter to his adult son according to the majority, and even to his minor son. The Shafi'is: if he marries her to his adult son, the contract is valid; if he marries her to his minor son, it is not valid in the madhhab, for it is a marriage not attended by four persons and it lacks the strength of grandfathership.
The Shafi'is, on the view that admits its validity: the offer and the acceptance must both be pronounced, in the soundest view. Others say one of the two suffices, which is the saying of the majority already cited (Hanafis, Malikis, and Hanbalis in the madhhab). There is also a Shafi'i saying that the grandfather may not hold both sides of the contract, because a man's proposal concerning himself cannot be organized.
The jurists of the four schools agree on the validity of delegation (tawkil) in the marriage contract. First evidence, the report narrated by al-Hakim in al-Mustadrak:
The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings upon him, sent 'Amr ibn Umayya al-Damri to the Negus (an-Najashi) to seek for him the hand of Umm Habiba bint Abi Sufyan, who was the wife of 'Ubayd Allah ibn Jahsh. The Negus married her (to the Prophet) and paid her, from his own wealth, on behalf of the Messenger of Allah, a dowry of 400 dinars.
narrated by al-Hakim in al-Mustadrak (6771); the report is judged weak, Muhammad ibn 'Umar al-Waqidi in the isnad being abandoned, yet it is supported by a mursal report (disconnected chain) judged fair; also narrated by Ibn Ishaq in his Sira (373) and al-Bayhaqi in al-Kubra (13574)
Second evidence: Malik reports in his Muwatta (771), from Rabi'a ibn Abi 'Abd al-Rahman from Sulayman ibn Yasar, that the Messenger of Allah sent Abu Rafi' with a man of the Ansar, and that they married (to the Prophet) Maymuna bint al-Harith while the Messenger of Allah was in Medina before departing. The apparent wording of the report suggests a disconnected chain, but Imam Ahmad and others narrate it with a connected chain, from Sulayman ibn Yasar from Abu Rafi', the freedman of the Messenger of Allah:
The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings upon him, married Maymuna lawfully and consummated the marriage lawfully, and I was the messenger between the two of them.
narrated by Ahmad in his Musnad (27241), al-Darimi (1825), at-Tirmidhi (841), and Ibn Hibban in his Sahih (4130, 4135)
Abu 'Umar (Ibn 'Abd al-Barr) said: Malik's version of this report is evidence for the lawfulness of a proxy in marriage, and it is a matter in which I know of no disagreement (al-Tamhid (3/152)). Ibn Hubayra said: they agreed that delegation is one of the permitted contracts in general, and every right in which representation is valid admits delegation, such as sale, marriage, divorce, and the like (al-Ifsah (1/452)). Need calls for it: one may need to marry from a distant place to which one cannot travel, as the Prophet married Umm Habiba while she was in the land of Abyssinia. And marriage is a contract in which exchange is sought: delegation is therefore valid in it as in sales.
al-Kasani said: the marriage that is concluded by these words directly is also concluded by them through representation, by delegation or by message, for the act of the proxy counts as the act of the principal and the word of the envoy counts as the word of the sender. The origin of its lawfulness is the report of the Negus who married Umm Habiba to the Messenger of Allah: either he did so by the Prophet's order, and he was his proxy, or he did so without his order, and the Prophet ratified his contract; a later ratification equals an earlier delegation (Badai' al-Sanai' (2/231)). The Shafi'is: delegation is permitted in both sides of marriage.
Wording for delegating a man to accept the marriage of a woman from her lawful guardian: "So-and-so delegated so-and-so to accept the contract of so-and-so, an adult virgin, or a previously married woman, or a restricted virgin (mu'alla), on behalf of her guardian so-and-so, her father or her grandfather (her father's father) or another, following the order of guardians in marriage, for a dowry of such an amount, immediate or deferred; a valid and lawful delegation; so-and-so accepted it from him with the prescribed acceptance", and the deed is dated.
The Hanbalis: he may delegate someone to accept the marriage for him, but for the validity of the proxy's contract, the principal must be named in the body of the contract. The guardian says: "I have married your proxy so-and-so", or "I have married so-and-so (whom he identifies) to so-and-so"; and the proxy says: "I accept this marriage for so-and-so son of so-and-so", or "for my proxy so-and-so". If he says "I accept this marriage" intending to accept for his principal without naming him in the contract, the marriage is not valid (Kashshaf al-Qina' (3/542)).
al-Mawardi said: once the delegation of the guardian and that of the husband are established, the wife may not delegate, for she has no right to perform the contract directly; delegation is therefore not valid from her. Its rules cover two points: the delegation of the guardian, then that of the husband.
As for the guardian's delegation: only one who would validly be a guardian in that marriage may be delegated, that is, a male, adult, sane, free, Muslim, and discerning person (rashid). If these six qualities are combined, his delegation is valid as his guardianship is valid; if one of them is missing, and a woman, a minor, an insane person, a slave, a disbeliever, or a prodigal (safih) is delegated, the delegation is void and the contract concluded through it is corrupted (fasid).
Once these six conditions are met, the delegating guardian is necessarily of two kinds: either of those who may compel in marriage (ijbar), like the father and the grandfather with the virgin; or of those who may not compel, like the other guardians with the previously married woman (thayyib), or like guardians other than the father and the grandfather, with the virgin as with the previously married woman.
If he may compel, he delegates with or without her permission, as he may marry her with or without her permission. But must he designate the husband to his proxy, or leave the choice to him? Two sayings:
If the guardian may not compel in marriage, is her permission required for the delegation contract? The Shafi'is differ on two ways, and some attach them to two sayings:
As for the husband's delegation: if it concerns marrying one specific woman, he may delegate any man whose acceptance of marriage would be valid for himself, that is, one combining three conditions: being a male, being an adult, and being sane; whether free or slave, discerning or prodigal, for the slave and the prodigal may accept a marriage contract for themselves and may therefore accept it for another. As for the delegation of the woman, the child, and the insane, it is not valid: what is not valid from them for themselves is not valid from them for another.
If the husband delegates for marrying an unspecified woman, the proxy choosing: must the three conditions be completed by the proxy being discerning and not under interdiction for prodigality? Three positions exist (al-Hawi al-Kabir (9/113, 115)).
The principal is required, by the generality of jurists, to have the capacity to perform himself what he delegates: delegation is the handing over to another of a power one holds oneself. The question therefore depends on the validity of the woman's marriage by herself.
First position: she may marry herself, so she may delegate. This is the view of Abu Hanifa, Zufar, al-Hasan (al-Basri), and the apparent narrations transmitted from the school (zahir al-riwaya) of Abu Yusuf: she may perform the contract directly, for herself as for the marriage of another, and delegate whoever will marry her.
al-Mawsili the Hanafi said: the word of women carries weight in marriage, to the point that if a free, sane, adult woman marries herself, it is valid; likewise if she marries another by guardianship or by delegation, if she delegates someone for her marriage, or if another marries her and she ratifies it. Muhammad (al-Shaybani) said: it is valid only with the guardian's ratification; if they die before it, they do not inherit from each other, neither his divorce nor his zihar (the pre-Islamic formula of maternal resemblance) takes effect, and the conjugal relation is unlawful. If the guardian refuses to ratify: al-Tahawi reports from Muhammad that the judge renews the contract between them; Hisham reports from Muhammad: "if he does not ratify it, I ratify it", and he was at that time a judge; two narrations therefore exist from him, and it is reported that he returned to Abu Hanifa's view seven days before his death.
The jurist Abu Ja'far al-Hinduwani reports that a woman came to Muhammad three days before his death and said: "I have a guardian who refuses to marry me except for a large sum of money. Muhammad said to her: "Go and marry yourself", which supports his retraction. From Abu Yusuf, outside the narrations of the fundamental works (usul), the view matches the first saying of Muhammad; according to another narration: if she marries a kuf', the contract depends on nothing; if a non-kuf', it depends on the guardian's ratification (al-Ikhtiyar (3/112)).
Second position: she may not marry herself, so she may not delegate another. This is the majority of jurists: the Malikis despite an internal disagreement, the Shafi'is, the Hanbalis, Abu Yusuf in one narration, and Muhammad (with variations in what is transmitted).
The Malikis admit an exception: if the woman of lowly standing, such as a freedwoman, a recent convert (muslamaniyya), or a poor woman, delegates a non-kinsman in a land without authority (sultan), or where the authority is hard to reach, and she has no guardian, it is permitted. Ibn Yunus reports from Ibn al-Qasim: if the woman of lowly standing, such as the freedwoman, the recent convert, the black woman, or the poor woman, delegates a non-kinsman who marries her, while she is in a land without authority, or whose authority she cannot reach, and she has no guardian, that is permitted. In the narration of Ashhab from Malik: the woman of lowly standing and the rest are equal; none may marry her except a guardian or the authority.
The Shaykh (of the Dhakhira) explains this view in two ways: first, having no guardian and the accessible authority being far away, it becomes a necessity, and she is permitted to be married by the non-kinsman, for he is a general guardian, according to: "The believing men and women are allies of one another" (surah at-Tawba 71); second, the rule that the general guardian does not marry when the specific guardian is present has its origin in cases other than the woman of lowly standing.
From the Mudawwana: Ibn al-Qasim said: likewise, if the woman who embraced Islam at his hands delegates him, he may marry her. As for the woman whose father embraced Islam at his hands, once time has passed to the point that she has, in Islam, standing, comfort, and pride for which people compete for her, he does not marry her: he is, with regard to her, like a non-kinsman.
Malik was asked: clients (mawali) take in children of the Arabs struck by a plague year and raise them to adulthood; among them is a girl whom one of them wants to marry? He said: "That is permitted; who would be closer to her than he?" The Shaykh specifies: that is when she has reached adulthood and given her consent, and provided she has no father; if she has a father, he does not marry her without her father's approval, unless the father places the matter in his hands; the like occurs in the book of Muhammad.
Again from the Mudawwana: Ibn al-Qasim said: every woman who has standing, comfort, and consideration may be married only by her guardian or the authority. Malik was asked: a woman of standing who married without her guardian's command, after placing her affair with a man, and the guardian then approves of it: is the marriage established? He suspended the answer. Ibn al-Qasim said: if the guardian ratifies it promptly, it is permitted, whether consummation has occurred or not; if he wants to annul it after two acts of consummation, that is his right and he annuls it; but if she has stayed with him a long time and borne children, I confirm it, provided it is sound and has not been annulled.
Malik and more than one transmitter said this. Sahnun said: another said: it is not valid, even if the guardian ratifies it, for someone other than the guardian concluded the contract.
Imam Ibn 'Abd al-Barr said: the woman may neither conclude her own marriage contract herself without her guardian, nor conclude the marriage of another. Those who said this include Malik, al-Shafi'i, Sufyan al-Thawri, Ibn Abi Layla, Ibn Shubruma, Ibn al-Mubarak, 'Ubayd Allah ibn al-Hasan, Ahmad, Ishaq, Abu Thawr, Abu 'Ubayd, and al-Tabari; it is reported from 'Umar, 'Ali, Ibn Mas'ud, Ibn 'Abbas, and Abu Hurayra; and it is the saying of Sa'id ibn al-Musayyib, al-Hasan, 'Umar ibn 'Abd al-'Aziz, Jabir ibn Zayd, and Abu al-Sha'tha'; the partisans of reasoned opinion (ahl al-ra'y) of Kufa and a group of the successors differed with them (al-Tamhid (19/84)).
The Shafi'is: the woman does not conclude her marriage by guardianship or by delegation, neither the offer nor the acceptance, for it does not befit good manners, given what is expected of her of modesty and silence. Allah says: "Men are in charge of women" (surah an-Nisa 34): they take charge of their interests, among them the guardianship of their marriage.
If (the guardian) delegates, for example, his daughter so that she delegates a man for his marriage, not on her behalf but on his own, or without restriction, it is valid: she is then the ambassador between the guardian and the proxy; unlike what she delegates on her own behalf. And if she authorizes her guardian with the wording of delegation, like "I have delegated you for my marriage", it is valid, and it is a permission (idhn), not a delegation (wakala).
To sum up the majority: the woman's delegation in the marriage contract, in the offer as in the acceptance, is not valid, for she does not hold her own marriage, so she does not hold the marriage of another. The view of Abu Hanifa, Zufar, al-Hasan, and the apparent narrations of Abu Yusuf remains: her delegation in the marriage of another is valid, for she may marry herself, and the details given above apply.
By way of opening, one clarification: one who is not her guardian may not be invested as proxy; and just as the pilgrim in the state of ihram (muhrim) has no right to conclude his own marriage, no one is delegated to conclude the marriage of a man in the state of ihram.
The Hanbalis in one saying: the fasiq's delegation for accepting a marriage is valid, for his acceptance of marriage for himself is valid, so it is valid for another (Manar al-Sabil (2/561)). The Hanafis, the Malikis, one saying of the Shafi'is, and one saying of the Hanbalis: the fasiq's delegation in marriage is valid, for he may take charge of the marriage contract for himself, so he may be delegated for another.
First case: the fasiq (notorious sinner) delegated to accept a marriage for another. The Shafi'is in the madhhab and the Hanbalis in the madhhab: it is permitted, for the fasiq's acceptance of marriage for himself is valid, so his acceptance for another is valid as well. Likewise if a Muslim delegates a man of the Book (a Jew or a Christian) to accept the marriage of a woman of the Book, for that acceptance is valid for himself. The Shafi'is in the second way and the Hanbalis in one saying: it is not permitted, for whoever may not be a proxy in the marriage's offer may not be a proxy in its acceptance, like the woman.
Second case: the fasiq delegated to offer the marriage (the guardian's offer) for another. The Shafi'is in the madhhab and the Hanbalis in the madhhab: it is not permitted, for he stands in the place of the offerer (mujib), who must not be a fasiq, like the guardian. According to the second way of the Shafi'is and a narration of the Hanbalis: his delegation in the offer is valid, for he is not the guardian: it is the delegating guardian who must be upright ('adl). As for the Hanafis and the Malikis: the fasiq may take charge of the marriage contract, for himself as through his guardianship; he may therefore be delegated for it and delegate for it.
In practice: all four schools accept delegation in marriage, as with Umm Habiba's marriage entrusted to the Negus and Maymuna married through Abu Rafi'; but they differ on whether one single person may cover both sides of the contract and on the woman's delegation. The safest path: two distinct persons for the offer and the acceptance (or two clearly named proxies), the principal named in the deed, the wife and the dowry specified; for a woman, delegation in practice takes the form of a permission granted to her guardian.