to say, all Muslims are alike or equal. The majority of the jurists require equality in four things—religion, freedom, descent and profession. Imām Shāfi‘ī says that he could not declare a marriage outside the akfā’ to be illegal (ḥarām); it is a disability which is removed by the consent of the woman and her guardians.
It is lawful to impose and accept conditions, which are not illegal, at the time of marriage, and the parties are bound by such conditions. The Holy Prophet is reported to have said: “The best entitled to fulfilment of all conditions that you may fulfil, are the conditions by which sexual union is legalized” (Bu. 67:53; AD. 12:39). It is also related that the Holy Prophet spoke of a son-in-law of his (an unbeliever), in high terms, saying: “He spoke to me and he spoke the truth, and he made promises with me and he fulfilled those promises” (Bu. 67:53). Illegal conditions are those which are opposed to the law of Islām or to public morality, for instance, that the wife shall have the right to frequent immoral places or that she shall not be entitled to any dower or maintenance or that the husband and the wife shall not inherit from each other. If such a condition be imposed the condition is void while the marriage is valid. Examples of legal conditions are that the wife shall not be compelled to leave her dār (conjugal domicile), that the husband shall not contract a second marriage during the existence of the first, that the husband and the wife or one of them shall live in a specified place, that a certain portion of the dower shall be paid immediately and the remainder on death or divorce, that the husband shall pay the wife a certain amount by way of maintenance, that he shall not prevent her from receiving visits from her relatives, that the wife shall have the right to divorce for a specified reason or for any reasonable cause, and so on (AA.).
As a rule, Islām recognizes only the union of one man and one woman as a valid form of marriage. Under exceptional circumstances it allows the man more wives than one, but does not allow the woman more husbands than one. Thus while a married woman cannot