A Girl’s Right 

While parents have the right to advise their daughters in regard to marriage, they do not have the right to compel them to marry against their will. According to the Shariah, a girl has the right to marry or refuse any person. Marriage cannot be imposed on her against her will.

According to the Hanafi Math-hab, a baaligh girl can arrange her own marriage. The nikah will be valid even if the parents withhold their consent. According to the Shaafi Math-hab, the nikah of a virgin girl will not be valid without the consent of her wali.

Although the nikah of a woman without the consent of her parents will be valid according to the Hanafi Math-hab, it will be shorn of blessings and success if she had ignored the valid advice of her parents. It is not proper for a girl to ignore her parents’ wishes if such wishes have valid grounds.

It is not a simple thing to marry against the wishes of one’s parents. In the majority of cases the advice of the parents will be sound and calculated in the best interests of their children. There are, however, cases, where the parents are ignorant of the Shariah and irreligious. They are guided purely by worldly and material considerations, the Deen forming no part in their decisions. In such cases a girl is fully entitled to oppose the misplaced advice of her parents and marry a boy of Islamic character even against their wishes.

Although according to the Shaafi Math-hab, the wali’s consent is essential for the validity of the nikah, the wali will only enjoy this right over the girl if he is an aadil, i.e. he is not a faasiq. If the wali is a faasiq (a flagrant sinner), his consent and withholding of consent are of no significance in terms of the Shariah (Shaafi math-hab). Thus, if a father who is a faasiq withholds his consent for his daughter’s marriage to a boy whom he does not prefer, she can obtain the necessary consent from another male wali lower down who is not a faasiq, e.g. from her brother or uncle.

The wali will be classified as a faasiq if he neglects his Jamaat Salaat, shaves his beard or commits sins in public.

Also, in terms of the Shaafi math-hab, a non-virgin does not require the consent of a wali for the validity of nikah.

(The Majlis Archives)