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What is the ruling on marrying a girl whose family refuses to marry her to anyone other than her paternal cousin, and is it permissible for her to appoint a distant paternal cousin as a guardian for marriage?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

Marriage is not valid except with a guardian (wali), based on the sayings of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him: "There is no marriage except with a guardian," and "Any woman who marries without the permission of her guardian, her marriage is invalid." The most entitled people to give a woman in marriage are her father, then his father no matter how high in ascent, then her son and his son no matter how low in descent, then her full brother, then her half-brother through the father, then their sons no matter how low in descent, then the paternal uncles. If the guardianship of the closest relative is forfeited, the one next in line gives her in marriage. If the guardianship of all of them is forfeited, then the ruler or the judge is her guardian. It is not permissible for a woman to appoint someone other than her family to عقد her marriage contract, unless it is proven that her guardians are incompetent due to apparent فسق (transgression), or they intend to harm her, or they reject a religiously suitable suitor without a valid reason.

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

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