Legal Competency for Marriage: In an Islamic and Pakistan Law Perspective
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.53575/e2.v6.01.(22)12-24Keywords:
Family Law, Marriage, Legal Competency, Child Marriage, Islamic Law, PakistanAbstract
Marriage in Islam is more contractual ('aqd') in nature than ceremonial or sacramental. This esteemed tie-up of spouses conveys legal rights and obligations to each spouse. The fabric of society is made up of family institutions. Islam places high value on establishing a balanced, well-behaved relationship between spouses for a happy home. Islamic jurisprudence considered its primary purpose to be to make intercourse lawful and to legitimate the resulting offspring in a matrimonial contract. For its formation, specific competency is required, including physical and intellectual. Islamic law defined the jurisprudential basis for marriage capacity and pended its determination on interpretation. It concerns gender, age, mental capacity, religion, relationship with each other, marital status, etc. The ultramodern way of life and the advancement of technological and scientific achievements have introduced alarming changes in family relationships also. Lack of a jurisprudential approach to marriage leads to imbalanced marriage contracts and results in disturbed marital life as well as for the children, the future generations. A jurisprudential approach to marriage contracts will resolve present contemporary issues such as child marriage, forced marriage, and polygamy. The current study looks at marriage competency through the lens of Islamic injunctions. It emphasizes the fundamental regulations governing the legality of marriage contract. This paper examines the legal capacity for marriage and outline the requirements for a marriage contract to achieve its true objectives. It also leads to increased success factors in marriage and fewer breakdowns in Pakistan. Furthermore, this study also analyzes the contemporary juridical approach to the marriage contract. It, finally, brings recommendations to review the marriage laws of Pakistan. This paper follows qualitative and descriptive research methodology along with an analytical research method.
References
Abdu al-Rahman Al-Shabuni, Nizham Al-Usrah Wa Hilli Mushkilatuhā Fī Daw`i Al-Islām (Beirut: Dār al-Fikr, 2001), 27.
Al-Qur’ān, (4:21).
Al-Qur’ān, (30:21).
Muhammad bin al-Ḥasan bin Ali bin al-Ḥusayn ‘Āmilī, Tafṣīl wasāʾil al-shīʿa ilā taḥṣīl masāʾil al-sharīʿa, vol.3 (Iran: Muassisah Aal Al-Bayt, 1988), 14.
Al-Qur’ān, (4:24).a
Muḥammad bin Yazīd Ibn. Mājah al-Qazvīnī Ibn. Mājah, Sunan Ibn Mājah (Beirut: Dārul Kutub Al-Ilmiyyah, 1952), Hadīth no.1846.
Mahmood Ahmed Ghazi, Muhadrat-e-Shariat (Lahore: Al Faisal Publishers, 2009), 236.
Al-Qur’ān, (7:189).
Muslim Family Law Ordinance, 1961, section 5.
Dawoud S. El. Alami, “Legal Capacity with Specific Reference to the Marriage Contract,” Arab Law Quarterly 6, no. 2 (1991): 191, accessed on Jan 5, 2022, https://doi.org/10.2307/3381835.
Kamal al-Din Muhammad Ibn. Abd al-Wahid al-Suyalsi al-Sakandari Ibn. al-Hamam al-Hanafi, Fath al-Qadir, vol. 3 (Beirut : Dār Al-Kotob Al-Ilmiyah, 2003), 247.
Al-Qur’ān, (49:13).
Al-Qur’ān, (78:8).
Al-Qur’ān, (30:21).
Al-Qur’ān, (4:1).
Al-Qur’ān, (7:80-81)
The Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women, section 16.
Khalid Rahman and Saleem Mansour, Woman, Family and Our Society: Problems and Way-out (Islamabad: Institute of Policy Studies, 2007), 12.
Sayyid Ibrahim Husayn Shadhili, Fī ẓilāl al-Qur'ān (UK: Islamic Foundation, 2005), 3334.
Muhammad Tahir Ibn. 'Ashur, Tafsīr al-Taḥrīr wa-al-tanwīr al-ma‘r f bi-Tafsīr Ibn ‘Āshr. vol, 5 (Tunis: Dar Souhnoun, 1984), 38.
Pakistan Penal Code, 1860, section 377.
The Hudood Ordinances, 1977.
Al-Qur’ān, (4:23).
Al-Qur’ān, (2:221).
Muhammad Khalid Masud, “Gender Equality and the Doctrine of Wilaya” (paper presented at the workshop for the Islamic Family Law, Oslo Coalition, in Cairo 8-10 January 2010), 6.
Aayesha Rafiq, “Role of Guardian in Muslim Woman’s Marriage: A Study in The Light of Religious Texts,” International Journal of Innovative Science, Engineering & Technology 2, no. 4 (2015): 1255.
Al-Qur’ān, (4:25).
Abu `Isa Muhammad at-Tirmidhi, Jamiʽ al-Tirmidhi (Beirut: Dārul Kutub Al-Ilmiyyah, 2017), Hadīth no. 23.
Abd Al-Rahman Al-Jaziri, Kitab al-Fiqh ‘ala al-Madhahib al-Arba ‘ah, vol. 4 (Cairo: Dār al-Irshad, 1986), 21, 22.
El Alami, Dawoud S. “Legal Capacity with Specific Reference to the Marriage Contract.” Arab Law Quarterly 6, no. 2 (1991): 192.
Ibn Hazm, Ali Mllhammac Said, Al-Muhalla, vol.2 (Cairo: Dār ul Turath, 1970), 23.
Farhat Ziadeh, “Equality (Kafa’ah) in the Muslim Law of Marriage: Problem of Sources,” American Journal of Comparative Law 6, no. 4 (1957): 503.
Tanzil-ur Rahman, A Code of Muslim Personal Law (Karachi: Hamdard Academy, 1978), 199.
Muhammad Shafi, Ma’ariful Qur’ān, vol.2 (Karachi: Maktaba Dārul-Uloom Publisher, 1998), 33.
Ali Al-Qari, Mirqat al-Mafatih Syarh Misykat al-Masabib, vol.2 (Beirut: Dār-al-Fikr, 2002), 271.
Al-Qur’ān, (24:26).
Al-Qur’ān, (4:33).
Al-Qur’ān, (24:32-33).
Ibn. Mājah, Sunan Ibn Mājah, Hadīth no.1859.
Muḥammad ibn Ismā‘īl al-Bukhārī, Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī (Beirut: Dār Ibn Kathīr, 1981), Hadīth no. 5090.
Sulaiman Ahmad Al-Tabrani, Al-Mu ‘jam al-Kabir (Al-Qahirah: Maktabah Ibn. al-Taymiyyah, 1994), vol.19, p.299.
Ibn. Mājah, Sunan Ibn. Mājah, Hadīth no.1895.
Ibid. Hadīth no.1896.
Al-Qur’ān, (2:235).
Burhān al-Dīn Abū Ḥasan ʿAlī Ibn. Abī Bakr Al-Marghīnānī, Al-Hidāyah sharḥ Bidāyat al-Mubtadī, vol.1 (Beirut: Sharikat Dār al-Arqam Ibn. Abī l-Arqam, 2004), 90.
Al-Qur’ān, (2:235).
Tanzil-Ur-Rahman, A code of Muslin Personal Law, vol.1 (Karachi: Hamdard Academy, 1978), 109.
Shoukat Ali vs. the State, YLR [FSC] 619 (2004).
Al-Qur’ān, (4:19).
Hammudah Abd al-Ati, The Family Structure in Islam (USA: American Trust Publications, 1995), 83.
Mst Zohra bibi vs. Superintendent Dar-ul-Amaan, MLD 298 (2006).
Rahim Bakhsh vs. Crown, PLD [Pesh.] 47 (1952).
Mst. Rukhsana v. S.H.O. Police Station Belo, Mirpur Mathelo and other, P.Cr.L.J. 638 (1999): Muhammad Imtiaz and another vs. the State, PLD [FSC] 308 (1981).
Naziran Bibi vs. S.H.O, PLD [Lah.] 709 (1996).
Sughran Mai vs. the State, PLD [Lah.] 386 (1980).
Al-Qur’ān, (2:237).
Muhammad Faiz-ud-din, A Text Book on Islamic Law (Including Statutory Family Law), (Dhaka: Shams Publications, 2008), 146.
Al-Qur’ān, (2:236).
It says: “Where no details about the mode of payment of dower are specified in the nikahnama or the marriage contract, the entire amount of the dower shall be presumed to be payable on demand.”
Al-Qur’ān, (4:3).
Abul A’la al-Maududi, Sunnat ki A'ini Haisiyat (Lahore: Millat Books, 1975), 307.
Al-Qur’ān, (4:6).
Ibn Rushd, Bidāyat al-Mujtahid, vol.2 (Cairo: Al-Maktabah al-Tijariyah al-Kubra, 1994), 275.
Al-Qur’ān, (24:32).
Al-Qur’ān, (4:19).
Tufail Hashmi, Islami Sharia’at: Mqasid and Masalih (Islamabad: Idarah-e-Tahqeeqat-e-Islami, 2011), 34.
Al-Bukhārī, Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, Hadīth no. 5066.
Shariat Petition No 10/2020.
Tanzil-Ur-Rahman, A Code of Muslim Personal Law, 217.
Nor Fadzlina Nawi, “Family Mediation in Malaysian Muslim Society: Some Lessons for the Civil Family Law in Malaysia,” SSRN Scholarly Paper (Rochester, NY: Social Science Research Network, October 1, 2011), available on https://papers.ssrn.com/abstract=1961940.
