or in the Ḥadīth to show that a marriage relation can only be established among the akfā’. It is quite a different thing that, generally, people should seek such relations among the akfā’, but Islām came to level all distinctions, whether social, tribal or racial, and therefore it does not limit the marriage relationship to akfā’. The principle that tribes and families have no special value with God is clearly established: “O mankind, surely We have created you from a male and a female, and made you tribes and families that you may know each other. Surely the noblest of you with Allāh is the most dutiful of you” (49:13). The way is opened for establishing all kinds of relationships between Muslims to whatever country or tribe they may belong by declaring that “the believers are brethren” (49:10), and “the believers, men and women, are friends (auliyā’) of each other” (9:71). The Holy Prophet interpreted these verses by saying: “The Arab has no precedence over the non-Arab, nor the non-Arab over the Arab, nor the white man over the black one, nor the black man over the white one except by excelling in righteousness.”

When speaking of contracting marriage-relationships, the Holy Qur’ān speaks only of certain forbidden relations and then adds: “And lawful for you are all women besides those” (4:24). And again it goes so far as to allow marital relations with non-Muslims: “And so are the chaste from among the believing women and the chaste from among those who have been given the Book before you” (5:5). The Holy Prophet recommended the marriage of a lady of the tribe of Quraish of the noblest family, his aunt’s daughter, Zainab, to Zaid who was a liberated slave; and Bilāl, a Black man, was married to the sister of ‘Abd al-Raḥmān ibn ‘Auf. There are other examples of the same kind in the early history of Islām. In one ḥadīth it is stated that the Holy Prophet recommended a certain man, called Abū Hind, to the tribe of Banī Bayādz, to whom he stood in the relation of a maulā (a liberated slave), and followed the profession of ḥajāmah (the craft of cupping), saying: “O Banī Bayādz! Give (your daughters) to Abū Hind in marriage and take in marriage his daughters” (AD. 12:26). This ḥadīth cuts at the root of the limitation of marriage to akfā’; yet the jurists have insisted on it. Imām Mālik, in this respect, differs from others, saying that kafā’ah (equality) is brought about by religion, that is