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Is love considered forbidden? What about a love relationship between a committed young man and a girl since childhood, if the girl is engaged to someone else against her will, and the young man fears proposing to her because of the Hadith: "None of you should propose to a woman to whom his brother has already proposed"? Is it permissible for the young man to help the girl break off the engagement?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

Love for which a person is not accountable, such as the heart’s attachment due to a sudden glance, does not entail a religious ruling except in terms of chastity or lack thereof. If no seclusion (khalwa), physical contact, or unlawful looking occurs, the person is rewarded. However, if it leads to seclusion or unlawful looking, then it is forbidden (haram).

It is forbidden to propose marriage to a woman who has already accepted a proposal from another man, if the fiancée or her guardian has explicitly stated their acceptance. This is a consensus among the majority of scholars.

Since the girl has not given her permission nor consented to the one who proposed to her, there is no harm for the committed young man to propose to her.

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

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