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Is a marriage without a guardian valid after relatives refuse to be guardians, especially if the refusal is to please a third party?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

The guardian (wali) is a condition for the validity of marriage according to the majority of scholars, based on the Prophet's (peace be upon him) saying: "There is no marriage except with a guardian." If your brother prevented you from marrying a suitable person (kuf'), he is not considered an oppressor (adil) unless this recurs, in which case you can refer the matter to the judge to marry you off. However, if you appointed a guardian for the marriage contract, your marriage is valid even if your brother does not approve; because bypassing a guardian who is not compelled (to marry you off) does not invalidate the contract, especially if his refusal is not religiously justified. But if you performed the contract yourself, the contract is invalid based on his (peace be upon him) saying: "A woman should not marry another woman, nor should a woman marry herself," and his saying: "Any woman who marries without the permission of her guardian, her marriage is invalid." In this case, you must refer the matter to the judge to renew the contract.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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