Marriage Law in Al-Muhadhdhab

Al-Shirazi's marriage chapter in Al-Muhadhdhab presents Shafi'i family law with the systematic rigor and comparative depth that characterizes the entire work. His treatment covers the contract, its conditions, the rights and obligations it creates, and the various ways it can be dissolved — all with careful attention to the Quranic and prophetic foundations.

The chapter opens by establishing the legal and ethical status of marriage in Islam. Al-Shirazi notes that marriage is obligatory for one who fears falling into sin, strongly recommended for one who has desire and means but no fear of sin, and neutral for one who has no desire or need. This graduated classification of the legal status of marriage is characteristic of Shafi'i jurisprudence's careful calibration of rulings to circumstances.

The conditions of a valid marriage contract in the Shafi'i school are established with precision: a wali (male guardian from the bride's agnatic relatives) or, in his absence, the ruler/judge; two upright male witnesses; an offer (ijab) and acceptance (qabul) in the same session; the absence of any legal prohibition between the parties; and the freedom of both parties from a prior marriage that would make this one prohibited (e.g., a man already married to the bride's sister). Al-Shirazi defends the wali requirement against those who argue that an adult woman can contract her own marriage, explaining that the prophetic hadith 'No marriage without a wali' is established and not abrogated.

Al-Shirazi examines the prohibited degrees of marriage established by the Quran (al-Nisa 4:22–23) in detail: the permanent prohibitions (mothers, daughters, sisters, aunts, nieces, foster mothers, foster sisters, mothers-in-law, and stepdaughters from a consummated marriage) and the temporary prohibitions (being simultaneously married to two sisters, or to a woman and her aunt). He also discusses the prohibition on marrying a fifth wife while already married to four, and the rules governing the marriage of Muslim men to women of the People of the Book.

The mahr section explains the Shafi'i school's position that any property with monetary value can serve as mahr — there is no minimum. The mahr al-mithl (customary equivalent) applies when no mahr was agreed or an invalid one was set. Al-Shirazi discusses how the mahr al-mithl is determined by reference to the dowers given to comparable women in the bride's family (from her father's side), taking into account age, beauty, intelligence, piety, and social standing.

The dissolution of marriage is treated through the three mechanisms recognized in Islamic law: talaq, khul', and faskh. Al-Shirazi explains that talaq is a right exclusively of the husband, exercised either in the sunnah form (a single revocable talaq during a period when the wife is not menstruating and after no intercourse has occurred in that period) or in the bid'ah form (a talaq during menstruation, during a purity period when intercourse has occurred, or in a triple talaq in a single utterance). The bid'ah form is sinful but effective in the Shafi'i school — unlike some other views, it does count as a valid divorce.

Al-Shirazi's treatment of the iddah period reflects the Shafi'i school's concern for precision: the iddah of a divorced menstruating woman is three complete menstrual cycles (i.e., she must wait for the onset and completion of three separate menstrual periods); for a non-menstruating divorced woman, three months; for a widow, four months and ten days; and for a pregnant woman, until delivery regardless of when that falls relative to the other iddah periods.