Part 22

“In the morning following Allah’s Messenger’s (8) wedding with Zaynab, he visited his wives and exchanged with them salam and supplications. This was his practice on the morning following his wedding.” ;

A common practice is that the newlywed would leave right after their wedding on a “honeymoon” trip. Depending on their finances, that trip could be to a country or area that has attractions for tourism.

There is no doubt that the honeymoon is one of the non-Muslims’s practices that many Muslims rush to imitate. It is usually an occasion for adding to one’s record of sins: it involves mixing with many nonMuslims, listening to music, going to restaurants where alcohol is served, going to beaches and other attractions where the people are improperly attired, and so on.

If the newlywed get a few days off from work on the occasion of their wedding, they should not use them in disobeying Allah. Rather, they can take the chance to go on a ‘Umrah trip or for visiting some family members to preserve the kinship ties and invite them to the good teachings of Islam.

1 Recorded by an-Nasai and Ibn Sa‘d. Verified to be authentic by al-Albani (Adab uz-Zifaf p. 138).

CHAPTER 8 FORBIDDEN MARRIAGES

Permanently prohibited women are the women that a man may never marry. Permanent prohibition can be a result of blood, marriage, or foster (breast-feeding) relationships. A man is a mahram to any woman who is permanently prohibited to him.

Allah (8%) mentions the permanently prohibited women in the following dyat:

i i GY LST 3, 6S ASS & Lass YD VY Lud CO Sut 5 Lea Kod US iS]

(phe GUS wu 3) Cale as eV ga AT G5 Labs YY Lidl dO Loy

aiies seed ekis GY ON Gp babi

tea stage se nocet

VE cLucll CO UngSS Lagle

/ compensation (mahr) as an obligation. And there is | no blame upon you for what you mutually agree (to

Quest for Love & Mercy 141 Forbidden Marriages

PROHIBITION BASED ON BLOOD RELATIONSHIPS

From the above, we conclude that the women who are permanently prohibited for a man because of blood relationships are seven types:

1. His mothers (including his grandmothers from both sides, and further up).

2. His daughters and granddaughters (and further down). 3. His sisters (both full and half-sisters).

4, His paternal aunts (including his father’s, grandfathers’, mother’s, and grandmothers’ paternal aunts, and further up).

5. His maternal aunts (including his father’s, grandfathers’, mother’s, and grandmothers’ maternal aunts, and further up).

6. His brothers’ (both full and half-brothers) daughters and granddaughters (and further down).

7. His sisters’ (both full and half-sisters) daughters and granddaughters (and further down).

PROHIBITION BASED ON MARITAL RELATIONSHIPS

The women who are permanently prohibited for a man because of marital relationships are four types:

1. The wives of his fathers (and grandfathers, and further up). This prohibition occurs as soon as a father executes his marriage contract on a woman, even if he does not perform intercourse with her.

2. The wives of his sons (and grandsons, and further down). This prohibition occurs as soon as a son executes his marriage contract on a woman, even if he does not perform intercourse with her.

3. His wive’s mothers (and grandmothers, and further up). This prohibition occurs as soon as a man executes his marriage contract on a woman, even if he does not perform intercourse with her.

4. The daughters (and granddaughters, and further down) of the wives with whom he performed intercourse.

In regard to step-daughters (Case 4 above), most scholars hold the opinion that they are all prohibited, without exception — as soon as their step-father performs intercourse with their mother. They say that the “custody” restriction in the above dyah (4:23) is a description applicable to all step-daughters.

However, a very viable opinion is that the “custody” is intended as a restriction, and that a step-daughter who did not live in her stepfather’s house is only temporarily prohibited to him — as long as he is married to her mother. This opinion was held by “Ali (48).

Malik Bin Aws Bin al-Hadathan reported that he had a wife who bore him children and then died. He was extremely sorrowful for her death. He met ‘Ali (4) who asked him, “What is wrong with you?” He replied, “My wife has died.” He asked him, “Did she have a daughter?” He said, “Yes, and she is at at-Taif (a town to the south of Makkah).” He asked, “Was she ever under your custody?” He said, “No.” He suggested, “Marry her then.” He said, “But what about Allah’s prohibition of ‘Your step-daughters who are under your custody’?” He said, “Indeed, she was not under your custody. Indeed, that only applies if she lived in your house.” '

PROHIBITION BASED ON MILK RELATIONSHIPS

The milk of the breast-feeding mother gives the baby nutrition and growth. When a woman breast-feeds a baby, he becomes related to her

1 Recorded by ‘Abd ur-Razzaq and Ibn Abi Hatim. Verified to be authentic by alAlbani (Jrwa’ ul-Ghalil no. 1880).

Quest for Love & Mercy 143 Forbidden Marriages

in a way similar to her delivered child. ‘Aishah, Ibn ‘Abbas, and ‘Ali (@) reported that Allah’s Messenger (85) said:

However, for breast-feeding to result in prohibitive relationships, it must satisfy the following conditions:

1, It should be performed on five or more distinct suckles. 2. The baby should be hungry and should drink its fill in each suckle,

3. All prohibiting suckles should take place before the baby’s weaning at the age of two.

I have just married a second wife, but my first wife claims that she suckled her on one or two occasions.” Allah’s Messenger (#$) said:

(QL Y, LY! sod Yo

1 Recorded by al-Bukhari, Muslim, and others. Review /nwa’ul-Ghalil no, 1876 for the various narrations of this hadith.

2 Recorded by Muslim, Abii Dawid, and others.

3 Recorded by Muslim, Ibn Majah, and others.

‘Nishah (tp) reported that Allah’s Messenger (8) said:

(RELL ge kolo! EB GSS1 51 ge bolo

<Check (O Women) who are your true brothers, because breast-feeding (that causes brotherhood) is that which satisfies the hunger. '

Umm Salamah and ‘Abdullah Bin az-Zubayr (a) reported that Allih’s Messenger (8) said:

<Breast-feeding does not cause prohibition unless it expands the intestines (i.e., satisfies the baby’s hunger), and takes place before weaning. *

“It was first revealed in the Quran that, “Ten known suckles cause prohibition.’ Five of those were then dropped, and it became, ‘Five known suckles cause prohibition.’ This was the final state when Allah’s Messenger (8) passed away.” >

In the following, we mean by “foster mother” the woman who breast-fed a person according to the above-listed conditions. And a “foster father” is the man who was married to the foster mother at the time of breast-feeding that person; i.e, he is the man who caused the foster mother’s milk.

In the following table, we list the eight common types of women who are permanently prohibited for a man because of breast-feeding relationships:

Recorded by al-Bukhari, Muslim, and others.

2 Recorded by at-Tirmitht and Ibn Majah. Verified to be authentic by al-Albani (/rwa’ ul-Ghalil no. 2150 & Sahih ul-Jami‘ no. 7495, 7633).

3 Recorded by Malik, Muslim, and others.

Quest for Love & Mercy 145 Forbidden Marriages Foster Relationship Counts as 2. | Foster daughter Daughter 3 | Foster mother’s mother Maternal grandmother 4 | Foster father’s mother Paternal grandmother 5. | Foster mother’s sister Maternal aunt 6 | Foster father’s sister Paternal aunt 7 | Foster mother’s granddaughter | Niece

A man’s foster sisters are of three types:

Description of the Sister Counts as

Breast-fed by his foster mother, and from the |Full sister same husband’s milk

Breast-fed by his foster mother, but from the |Halfmaternal milk of two different husbands sister

Breast-fed by a wife of his foster father other |Half-paternal than his foster mother sister

It is important to note here that the foster relationships only apply to the breast-fed person and his offspring. They do not apply to other relatives, such as his blood brothers and sisters.

For example, consider a man “A” has a foster sister “B”, a blood brother “C”, and a son “D”. In this case, “A” and “D” are prohibited from marrying “B”, but “C” is not.

Temporarily Prohibited Women or Marriages

Temporary prohibition is that which prevents a man from marrying a woman under certain conditions. If the conditions cease to hold, the prohibition ends and the woman becomes permissible for him,

The temporarily prohibited women are the following:

MARRYING More THAN Four WOMEN

If a man has four wives, all other women become temporarily prohibited for him. This means that he may not consider any additional woman for marriage unless he divorces one of his wives.