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Is it permissible for a girl to marry without a guardian if her father and grandfather have passed away, given the delay in the family's approval of the marriage due to the suitor not having official residency in his country of residence?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

Familiarity between young men and women with the intention of marriage, and love relationships between them, are all doors to fitna (temptation, discord) and corruption. It is not permissible for a woman to marry without a wali (guardian), otherwise the marriage is invalid according to the majority of scholars. The death of the father and grandfather does not permit marriage without a wali. The order of guardians is: the brother, then the brother's son, then the paternal uncle, then the paternal uncle's son. If all of them are absent, the ruler marries her off. If the closest wali refuses to marry the woman to a suitable man without a valid reason, the guardianship transfers to the next in line, or the matter is referred to the Sharia judge to marry her off.

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

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