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Who is the guardian for a girl's marriage if she has no father, paternal uncle, or grandfather, and her brothers do not pray, except for one who prays but not on time?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

For a marriage guardian (wali) to be valid, he must be free, adult, sane, male, Muslim, and not in a state of ihram for Hajj or Umrah. Scholars differed regarding the condition of justice for the guardian. The Malikis and Hanbalis, in one narration, held that it is not a condition, and this is the more correct view, especially if the guardian is the father. Conversely, the Hanbalis, in another narration, and the Shafi'is held that it is a condition.

As for the ruling on one who abandons prayer: if one abandons it out of denial (juhud), he is an infidel by consensus. If one abandons it entirely out of laziness, he is an infidel according to the more correct view. If one performs it sometimes and abandons it sometimes, he is a transgressor (fasiq) but not an infidel. As for one who prays but performs the prayer outside its prescribed time without a valid excuse, scholars differed regarding his disbelief, with the majority holding that he is not an infidel.

Therefore, the brother who prays is the one who should عقد the marriage contract for his sister.

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

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