Grand Ayatullah Shirazi remarks on necessity of father’s consent to marriage
The daily scholarly meeting of Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Sadegh al-Hosseini al-Shirazi was held on Friday and Saturday 25th and 26th of Rabi al-Thani. In these sessions, like the previous meetings, the Marja answered the questions of the attendees about various jurisprudence issues.
Grand Ayatollah Shirazi answered a question about forced and reluctant marriage of a girl, and said: The marriage contract of a female who is forced into a reluctant marriage is invalid, according to the consensus among jurists. This means the consent of the female is a prerequisite for the validity of the marriage, and if the lack of consent is revealed, the marriage will not be valid.
His Eminence considered compulsion and urgency in the marriage of a girl to be different, and said: In the case of a forced and reluctant marriage, an external factor, such as the father, forces the girl to marry, but in a marriage out of urgency, the girl herself agrees to the marriage in consideration of certain conditions. Therefore, a forced marriage contract is invalid, but if the marriage happens out of urgency, it is valid.
The Supreme Marja went on to say: This issue has been the subject of debate for a very long time. The book “Shara’ye’ al-Islam” has cover this topic, where it says, if a girl consents to marriage with a suitor, who is befitting and suitable for her, but if the father does not consent to this marriage, his lack of consent will not invalidate the marriage contract. Besides, many jurists believe that if the female is mature, the father’s consent will become a moral observance, and not necessary or required for the marriage. However, this issue is a point of great disagreement among fuqaha.
Grand Ayatollah Shirazi then expressed his jurisprudential opinion on the matter and said: In my opinion, a girl who marries without her father’s consent has committed a haram act, but her marriage contract is not invalid. Also, a group of fuqaha, including the late Seyyed Abdulhadi Shirazi and some contemporaries, have said that in such circumstances the marriage contract is not invalid, and the father’s guardianship is not applied to a mature daughter in terms of marriage. Notwithstanding, observing the father’s consent to her daughter’s marriage is a moral consideration.
