Marriage requires consent

The claim is that Islamic law hands a woman over in marriage as a piece of property, at the discretion of a male relative, and that her consent is legally irrelevant. It circulates widely and it is asserted with confidence.

What the sources establish

The Prophet invalidated a marriage contracted without the woman’s consent. Khansa bint Khidam al-Ansariya was given in marriage by her father, disliked the marriage, brought the matter to him, and he declared the marriage void. The report is preserved in al-Bukhari at 7:69.

The case is not isolated. Abu Dawud and Ibn Majah both record that a girl who had not previously married came to the Prophet and told him her father had married her off without her consent. He gave her the choice to uphold the marriage or dissolve it.

The governing standard was stated by the Prophet in general terms: a previously married woman is not to be given in marriage except after consulting her, and a woman who has not married before is not to be given in marriage without her permission.

What the scholars say

Forcing a woman to marry without her consent is a violation of Islamic law and a transgression of the Prophet’s teaching. A Muslim woman cannot be compelled to marry. Widowed and divorced women are free to remarry as they choose once their prescribed waiting period has passed. Where forced marriage has been practised, it has been practised in ages and places where Muslims were ignorant of their own religion.

Where the claim comes from

Forced marriage exists. It exists in Muslim families and it is a genuine injury to real people. The move being made here is to take a practice that the sources annul and present it as the practice the sources require. A tradition that voids the marriage is being blamed for the marriage.

The distinction matters most to the person actually facing the coercion, because the sources are on her side, and she is entitled to know it.