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His chief duty is to see that the principle of the equality of the
parties is maintained.
1 The Prophet declared that "There is no
marriage without a guardian. " It should be reiterated that the
guardian has not got the right to force his daughter or sister to
marry a man whom she does not like. This is proved by the following
tradition-which extends to woman the right to repudiate a marriage
forced on her : Ibn Abbas reported that a virgin grown up girl came to
the Prophet of Allah and claimed that her father had given her in
marriage to a person whom she disliked. The Prophet gave her the
ýption.
Marriage, in Islam, is a religious duty, but it is also a social
contract with many responsibilities and duties. As with any other
contract, certain conditions must be fulfilled for it to be valid.
Some of these conditions relate to the contract itself, and some
relate to the status of the contracting parties. (i. e. that the
bride must not be married to another man at the same time).
A further condition is that there must be two males competent to
witness the contract. because no marriage can be valid without the
presence of the witnesses, as Ibn Abbas reported that the Prophet
declared: "These women are adulteresses who marry themselves without
the presence of a witness.,,
3 Umar. the second caliph, was once
told that a certain marriage had been performed with one witness
only. He said that such a marriage amounted to clandestine
relationship which was illegal. If he had knowledge of it beforehand,
he would have dealt stern punishment to either party. " 4 The
advantage of the presence of witnesses is that the marriage will be
proclaimed to the public. These elements of publicity and
proclamation are essential in their own right. Without proclamation,
I
and witness, it is not a marriage but a merely sexual relationship
1. lbid
2. Ab; -u Da 'O"d, quoted by Siddiq. - Is
, op. cit., W"
Pe 51
3. Tirmidfir, quoted by Siddiqi, op. Cit., P. 50
4'. Ibid
88
. '.