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Fatwa CenterHe agreed to questionable marriage terms under pressure from bride's family
Question
As salaam o alaikum I have a technical question to ask and it's personal so please bare with me and tell me what would be the best thing to do regarding it. Also in case you post it on your website keep my name confidential. So here is the question: Recently I got married (nikkah) and just when it was the nikkah day the brides father, uncle and brother came to my place to place certain conditions for the nikkah to be carried out.They came at out place and placed certain conditions upon which I explained that even if I agree to these conditions which were against shariah they automatically become invalid but was not in a position to argue or be debatable as things would have gotten worse and everyone was already informed and invited to the nikkah. There conditions were as follows: 1. After the nikkah the husband and the wife are not allowed to meet at all or be incontact with each other. 2. The wife has the right to give divorce (it's a condition in marriage contract in Pakistan for which I allowed khulla and that a woman cannot give divorce but can demand one) 3. The husband will be obliged to give 25% of his income to the wife when married and in case of divorce 50% of his wealth will be reviewed by the wife as long as the children do not reach the age of puberty or the wife does not get married to someone else. End of conditions. Please advice me if I am obliged to follow all the above conditions now since I am married to her and chose the lesser evil.
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad 
is His Slave and Messenger.
Islam legislates marriage for there to be fondness, love and compassion between the spouses, so one should endeavor to do anything to help achieve that. It is permissible for either spouse to stipulate conditions that serve their interests but do not contradict the purpose of the marriage contract. Then, if the other party accepts these conditions, he/she is obliged to fulfill them according to the strongest opinion held by scholars. This is in general. Now, let us look at each of the mentioned terms separately and we will elaborate on them in the following points:
- If a man finalizes a marriage contract with a woman, she becomes his wife, and so, he is permitted to do with her what a husband is permitted to do with his wife. However, the guardian of the bride may stipulate a condition that the consummation of the marriage be delayed for some interest, such as consideration for prevalent customs of that country. Hence, this condition does not contradict the purpose of the marriage contract, so the husband is obliged to fulfill it. For more benefit on the conditions in marriage, please refer to Fataawa 224677 and 91942.
- The stipulation for the divorce to be under the authority of the wife is a void condition according to most jurists as it contradicts the purpose of the marriage contract. This is because Allaah says (what means): {Men are in charge of women by [right of] what Allaah has given one over the other and what they spend [for maintenance] from their wealth.} [Quran 4:34] Divorce is part of man being in charge of his wife. Therefore, in principle, divorce is in the hands of the husband, and the bride or her guardian demanding that the divorce be in her hands is not a binding condition.
- The stipulation that the husband will give the wife a quarter of his income after marriage and half of it in case of divorce is a void condition because the amount and time of obligation are both undetermined. However, it does not affect the validity of the contract. The Kuwaiti Fiqh Encyclopedia reads: “In case of Gharar [an unknown or uncertain item of a contract] in the dowry at the marriage contract, it does not affect [the validity of] the contract because marriage is a contract that is not invalidated by the compensation [i.e. dowry] being unknown. The jurists have mentioned some forms of Gharar in dowry, like, as cited in the Hanafi School of jurisprudence, that the specification of the dowry is invalid if the type specified is unknown, like if he marries her for "a riding animal", "a garment" or "a house". (This specification is void as the type is exceedingly unknown. In that case, the husband is obliged to pay a dowry like that of the women who are in the same social status as her.)”
The fact that the husband agreed to those terms under disciplinary pressure from the bride's guardian does not relieve him of the obligation to fulfill those conditions that he is obliged to fulfill since he has agreed to them.
Allaah Knows best.
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