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Is a Muslim woman under the guardianship of her disbelieving father in marriage, and is her marriage contract invalid without his permission? And is her marriage to a Muslim without the consent of her disbelieving parents considered an act of disobedience to them? And will divine grace be withheld in this situation?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

As long as the girl's father is not a Muslim, he has no guardianship over her. If all her male relatives ( عصبتها ) are disbelievers, then the one who handles her marriage is the Muslim judge, because the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said: "The ruler is the guardian of whoever has no guardian." If a Muslim judge is unavailable, then a trustworthy, upright Muslim man should handle her marriage. As for her marrying a Muslim without the consent of her parents, this is not considered disobedience ( عقوق ), and she is not permitted to obey her parents in marrying a disbeliever, because the marriage of a Muslim woman to a non-Muslim is invalid by consensus. Obedience to parents is only in what is good and permissible ( المعروف ).

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

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