What is an 'Urfi marriage, what is its ruling, is it an innovation and invalid, is it obligatory to inflict the prescribed punishment (hadd) or a discretionary punishment (ta'zir) upon its perpetrator, what are the effects of this marriage, what is incumbent upon one who has entered into it, is the child attributed to his father, what is its expiation, what are the proofs for all of this from the Quran and Sunnah, how can we prevent youth from it, and what is the sin of one who issues a fatwa permitting it?

The common-law marriage (zawaj urfi) as described—that is, without a guardian (wali) or witnesses, and relying solely on a verbal offer and acceptance and the writing of a document—is invalid and reprehensible, and must be annulled immediately.

If a child results from this marriage, the child is attributed to the father if the father believed the contract to be permissible and the marital intimacy lawful at the time of the contract, due to being excused by ignorance.

Whoever entered into such a marriage must repent to Allah, and no expiation is required other than this repentance.

The prescribed punishment (hadd) is not applied to the perpetrator; rather, he is disciplined (tazeer) because his marriage is one of شبهة (shubhah - doubt or misconception). The determination of the tazeer is left to the Sharia judge.

The child is attributed to his father, and the father is compelled by the judge to provide for him.

Young men and guardians must fear Allah, shun the path of fornication, and facilitate lawful marriage to avoid invalid unions.