Hesitant to marry a younger man who is still a student

21-4-2009 | IslamWeb

Question:

if a sister wants to get married to a religoues brother and they both agreed but the brother is younger than her and goes to school also can not support her what would she do can she go and search for someone else or should she wait for him till he gets ready.

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Answer:

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.

 

First of all, it should be mentioned that the difference of age between the husband and wife is not an impediment for marriage. Therefore, it is permissible for a woman to marry someone who is younger than her and vise-versa. Indeed, the Prophet married Khadeejah who was older than him, and he married ‘Aa’ishah who was much younger than him.

Therefore, it is permissible for the sister to wait for this young man if she wishes. However, we do not advise her to do so if the marriage will be delayed because of studies or because of him not being able to spend on her. She never knows, it might be that she will be advanced in age and he would not marry her, and the like; so such disadvantages may happen. Therefore, it is better for her to look for someone else to marry, and Allaah may compensate her with someone better in religion and moral conduct.

Finally, it should be noted that if the marriage is not predestined with this young man, then you should cut any relationship with him because it is not permissible for a woman to establish an affectionate relationship with a non-Mahram man. For more benefit, please refer to Fatwa 81356.

Allaah Knows best.