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Is it permissible for a woman to marry herself without her guardian's consent if her father is preventing her from marrying a suitable man, with no other solutions available, and would such a marriage be considered valid or fornication, and would the woman be considered disobedient to her father?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

The majority of scholars stipulate the guardian (wali) for marriage. If the father refuses to marry his daughter to a suitable suitor without a legitimate شرعي reason, and after efforts to convince him fail, and no other guardian is available or they refuse, then she should refer her case to a شرعي judge. If no such judge exists, she is permitted to authorize a just Muslim man to act as her guardian for the marriage contract. This marriage is not considered fornication (zina), nor is she deemed disobedient (aqqa) to her father.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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