“It is not lawful for the guardian to compel a virgin who has attained majority to marry according to his wishes” (ibid.). Ḥadīth also supports this view, for the Holy Prophet is reported to have said: “The widow and the divorced woman shall not be married until her order is obtained, and the virgin shall not be married until her permission is obtained” (Bu.67:42). And Bukhārī’s next chapter is headed thus: “When a man gives his daughter in marriage and she dislikes it, the marriage shall be repudiated” (Bu. 67:43), and a ḥadīth is quoted showing that the Holy Prophet repudiated such a marriage.

The jurists have also dealt with cases of the marriage of minors. According to Ḥanafī interpretation of the Muslim law, “the marriage of a minor boy or girl is lawful, whether the minor girl is a virgin or a thayyibah, provided the guardian is one of the ‘aṣabah (relations on the father’s side) (H.I, p. 295). Mālik recognizes such marriage only when the guardian is a father, and Shāfi‘ī when the guardian is a father or a grandfather (ibid.). Again in the Ḥanafī law, if the minor has been given in marriage by a guardian who is not the father or the grandfather, the minor has the opinion, on attaining majority, of repudiating the marriage. But, as a ḥadīth already quoted shows, even if the father gives away his daughter in marriage against her wishes, and she is of age, the marriage must be repudiated if the girl desires, and so in the case of a minor too if, on coming of age, she finds the match unsuitable. Bukhārī speaks only of a thayyibah (a widow or a divorced woman), but another ḥadīth is reported from Ibn ‘Abbās, stating that a virgin girl came to the Holy Prophet and said that her father had married her against her wishes, and the Holy Prophet gave her the right to repudiate the marriage (AD. 12:25). He also mentions the case of a thayyibah (AD. 12:27).

Marriage in Akfā

Akfā’ is the plural of kuf’ which means an equal or one alike. For example, the Arabs are the akfā’ of the Arabs and the Quraish are the akfā’ of the Quraish. Thus the people of one tribe or one family would be akfā’ among themselves, and people of one race would be akfā’ among themselves. There is nothing in the Holy Qur’ān