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What is the ruling regarding the marriage of a 35-year-old virgin, who is of sound mind and has reached puberty, without a guardian, given her family's absolute refusal of the marriage?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

According to the majority of scholars, it is not permissible for a woman to be married without a guardian (wali). The woman's guardians for marriage are, in order: her father, then her paternal grandfather, then her son, then her full brother, then her half-brother (from the father's side), then their sons, then the paternal uncles. If the closest guardian refuses to marry her off without a valid reason, the guardianship transfers to the next in line among the guardians, or the matter can be referred to the Shariah judge to marry her.

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

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