Marriage of coercion is invalid even if the husband approved it

13-1-2014 | IslamWeb

Question:

What is the Islamic ruling on a marriage of coercion when the man is compelled as his fiancée resorted to the police station as a means to exercise pressure over him to marry her, and he actually marries her while her guardian claims that she is a virgin but she is not?

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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, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His Slave and Messenger.

Marriage in Islam has its due conditions and terms and without them it would not be valid, among which is the husband’s willingness and consent to carry out that marriage i.e. he should not be compelled to carry out that marriage. If the husband was compelled to marry by being threatened with death, severe beating or long imprisonment, such a marriage contract is invalid. As soon as this state of compulsion is over, the marriage should be annulled, even if the husband approved it later after the coercion is over; since such a contract is invalid in the first place.

The Maaliki scholar Ad-Dusooqi said, “If the man was compelled to carry out marriage, it should be annulled even if the husband approves it, according to the consensus of Muslim scholars; therefore, such a marriage should be annulled as soon as the coercion is over. This is because such a marriage is among the marriages that depend on the choice of the spouse to continue or annul it.”

Hence, that marriage contract is not valid and should not be carried out the way the questioner has clarified, if coercion was applied.

As for the questioner’s words about the fiancée’s false pretense, we were not able to comprehend its meaning fully; therefore, our answer was confined to the ruling on the marriage of coercion.

Allaah Knows best.