page_title: Marriage in Islam
section_title: Prohibited marriages
hierarchical_section_title: Marriage in Islam / Prohibited marriages
caption_attribution_description: English: A woman (face unseen) in a sparkling salwar kameez, bangles and with henna decorated hands signs the Nikah, the Muslim marriage contract. Norsk nynorsk: Ei kvinne skriv under på den muslimske ekteskapskontrakta, nikahen. Ho er kledd i ein glitrande salvar kamiz, armringar og har henna-dekorerte hender. Hovudet er ikkje synleg. Oiriginal caption: The happiest day of my life. 2nd July 2006. We were in the ladies section of the mosque, the molvi sahib was getting late and we couldn't find anything else, so I signed my Nikah papers over a box of pizza. I had horrible make up - green eye shadows and bright red lipstick - but I was still so happy."I do"
context_page_description: In Islam, marriage is a legal contract between a man and a woman. Both the groom and the bride are to consent to the marriage of their own free wills. A formal, binding contract – verbal or on paper – is considered integral to a religiously valid Islamic marriage, and outlines the rights and responsibilities of the groom and bride. Divorce in Islam can take a variety of forms, some executed by a husband personally and some executed by a religious court on behalf of a plaintiff wife who is successful in her legal divorce petition for valid cause.
  In addition to the usual marriage until death or divorce, there is a different fixed-term marriage known as zawāj al-mutʻah permitted only by the Twelver branch of Shi'ite Islam for a pre-fixed period. There is also Nikah Misyar, a non-temporary marriage with the removal of some conditions such as living together, permitted by some Sunni scholars.
context_section_description: In certain sections of the Jahiliyyah Arab tradition, the son could inherit his deceased father's other wives (i.e. not his own mother) as a wife. The Quran prohibited this practice. Marriage between people related in some way is subject to prohibitions based on three kinds of relationship. The following prohibitions are given from the male perspective for brevity; the analogous counterparts apply from the female perspective; e.g., for "aunt" read "uncle". The Quran states:
  O ye who believe! It is not lawful for you to inherit women forcefully.
  And do not marry women to whom you father has ever married except what has passed. Indeed it was lewdness, disbelief, and a bad way. Prohibited to you are your mothers, your daughters, your sisters, your paternal aunts, your maternal aunts, brother's daughters, sister's daughters, your  mothers that are those who suckled you, your sisters from suckling, mothers of your women, your step-daughters in your guardianship from your women you have entered upon but if you have not entered upon them then there is no blame on you, women of your sons from your loins, and that addition of two sisters (in a wedlock) except what has passed. Surely God is Forgiving, Merciful.
  — Al-Quran, 4:19–23
caption: A bride signing the nikah nama (marriage certificate)
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