Mu' meneen Brothers and Sisters,

As Salaam Aleikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.  (May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be upon all of you)

One of our brothers/sisters has asked this question:

 Dear Brother,

Assalam Alaikum. I pray to Allah to bless you for your efforts to propagate islam and The Message of Allah in a rightful manner.

I wanted to repeat my question regarding a marriage proposal that our

family has received from my cousin sister. The proposal is for my younger brother to marry my cousin sister`s daughter who is also roughly the same age.

My question is: Is it legal to accept this proposal as my Mom and Dad are undecided and they don`t know what to do. This is why I need your advise and help regarding this question.

I appreciate your efforts and would certainly be grateful if you could reply at the earliest.

Thanks a lot and may Allah reward you for your service to Islam and our Ummah

Your Brother,

(There may be some grammatical and spelling errors in the above statement. The forum does not change anything from questions, comments and statements received from our readers for circulation in confidentiality.)

Answer:

Cousin Mehram

In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and whoever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We bear witness that there is no one (no idol, no person, no grave, no prophet, no imam, no dai, nobody!) worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that Muhammad (saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.

May Allah Subhanah reward you with the best of this world and the Hereafter for your kind comments of encouragement for our humble efforts in the propagation of the Truth. If our humble and modest efforts have helped even one brother or sister get closer to Allah and His Deen of Truth, then we would consider ourselves indeed fortunate to have been given this opportunity by the Lord Most Merciful to serve in His Cause. We hope, beg, and pray the Merciful Lord accepts our humble and weak efforts, forgives us our shortcomings, and saves you, us, and all the believers from the torment of the Hell Fire. Ameen.

Your Question: The proposal is for my younger brother to marry my cousin sister`s daughter who is also roughly the same age.
My question is: Is it legal to accept this proposal as my Mom and Dad are undecided and they don`t know what to do.

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 4 Surah Nisaa verses 22-23:

And do not marry at all those women whom your father had married, though what has happened in the past is excepted. This is an indecent and abominable thing and an evil practice.

Forbidden to you are your mothers, daughters, sisters, paternal aunts, maternal aunts, brother’s daughters, sister’s daughters, your foster mothers who have given suckle to you, your foster sisters who have taken suckle with you, the mothers of your wives, the daughters of your wives whom you have brought up, the daughters of your wives with whom you have conjugal relations, and it is not sinful for you to marry their daughters (after having divorced them). Also forbidden to you are the wives of your sons who are from your loins, and it is unlawful for you to keep two real sisters as wives at one and the same time, though what has happened in the past is excepted, for Allah is indeed Forgiving, Merciful.

Cousins and thus the off-spring of cousins are not included in the above list of mehrams (those to whom it is ‘haraam’ to marry); thus as far as the legality of the marriage is concerned between your brother and your cousin sister’s daughter, there is absolutely no harm and no restriction in Islam in such a marriage.

It would be prudent to apply the following ‘formula of choosing a bride’ from the one who was sent with the Truth (Prophet Mohamed (saws)), when determining whether who amongst the available women are best to marry:

Sahih Al-Bukhari Hadith 7.27 Narrated by Abu Huraira

The Prophet (saws) said, "A woman is married for four things, i.e., her wealth, her family status, her beauty and her religion. So you should marry the religious woman (otherwise) you will be a loser."

Allah is our witness, if one applies the above ‘formula’ when choosing a girl to marry, they will never be on the side of loss!

Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me alone. Allah Alone Knows Best and He is the Only Source of Strength.

Your brother and well wisher in Islam.

Burhan