Dr. Iqbal Darandari, a member of the Human Rights Committee and oversight bodies in the Shura Council, is still echoing the call, despite the council's refusal at a later time to vote on the proposal.
A member of the Shura Council called for the enactment of legislation to allow an adult woman to marry herself, without the approval of her guardian, the “guardian”, according to the experiences of Arab and Islamic countries that adopt the same procedure, based on jurisprudence.
Dr. Iqbal Darandari demanded that women be allowed to marry themselves after the age of 24, without requiring the consent of the guardian to perform the marriage contract. She called on the concerned authorities to reconsider this condition, and to specify an age at which the woman does not need the guardian’s permission to complete the marriage contract, because the requirement of the guardian’s consent to the woman’s marriage contract, regardless of her age without restriction, makes it easy to force and deprive women of their basic rights. The age of 25 years is the age at which a person fully matures (according to recent research), completes his basic and university education, and begins his working life.
Darandari explained that there are several Muslim countries that have granted adult women the right to marry themselves, and that the issue has a wide range and differences between the sects, so why is the most severe one taken?! The adherents of the Abu Hanifa school of thought believe that the marriage contract requires the consent of the woman only, and that it is permissible for the adult woman to conclude the contract herself, whether she is married or virgin, and consulting the guardian is a matter of desirability and is not a prerequisite for the validity of the marriage contract.
And the principle in Sharia stated that every adult, sane, adult person has the right to be independent in disposing of all his affairs. And the woman in Sharia is fully qualified, and she can dispose of all her affairs; Among them is the conclusion of important contracts such as financial contracts, and marriage is considered a contract, so it is a matter of priority that the woman concludes it herself. On this basis, the guardianship over her in marriage is contrary to the original, stressing that the requirement of the guardian’s consent to the marriage contract of a minor or a woman who has not reached the age of maturity is justified due to the lack of complete eligibility or maturity, which helps the girl to make the right choice, and is a protection for her, but the continuation of that condition after Exceeding the age of majority and maturity, and applying it to all women without discrimination, and even to the divorced or the elderly who has experience that qualifies her to know her interests and choose the most appropriate for her, turns the issue into guardianship over women, which makes her like a madman and a minor child in the eyes of society.
And the Shura member considered giving the right to contract a woman’s marriage, even if she was 40 or 50 years old, to the guardian, even if it was her young teenage son who had not yet matured, and his only qualification was masculinity, and the transfer of that guardianship from the father to the grandfather, then the son, then the brothers, makes the woman like a commodity, even And if she reached the highest academic and professional levels and held the highest positions, as described.
Darandari stressed that it is necessary to remove the damage resulting from this condition. Because it facilitated interference in women's affairs, preventing her from her inherent rights in managing her life's affairs, and depriving her of marriage and childbearing. The matter becomes more difficult when the obstinacy in marriage is on those of advanced age, whether she has been previously married – divorced or widowed – or not before, as she says that some guardians take advantage of their guardianship over women, tormenting them and preventing them from marrying unjustly, which contributed to the high rate of spinsterhood and flight A number of girls from their families.
Darandari pointed out that there are many women who have been abused and have chosen to remain silent and not file lawsuits. Fearing the family's anger and boycott, and accusing her of exposing the family, and to avoid the guardian's hostility towards her and his increased violence towards her. While others chose to escape from the family or resort to the judiciary to be married by the court. Also, according to Darandari, some guardians exploit the condition of his consent to the marriage contract to achieve his financial, personal, or social interests, or to comply with social norms, even if they are unfair to women. There have been many cases of women who complain about the reluctance of a father, brother or son to marry them, simply because of a personal desire, with his dereliction of the duties of alimony and care, and without considering the woman’s needs and her desire to be covered and to find someone to support her.
Professor of family system at King Abdulaziz University, and expert at the Islamic Fiqh Academy, Dr. Hassan Muhammad Safar said that marital relations and their rulings are included in the jurisprudence of personal status, and guardianship is only entrusted to the father because he is keen to pick and choose those who meet the conditions, and the guardianship of women is governed by conditions, including: religion and honesty And seek interest for her to be a safety ladder in the life of the girl.
Dr. Safar added that, unfortunately, some fathers violate the rules, etiquette, and provisions of guardianship, but we sometimes hear and monitor flagrant violations and loss of trust rights, and he explained that the official who performs the marriage contract is committed according to the system to what the Sharia texts stipulated in the contract, and what the system clarified related to the marriage contract document, writing and recording The legal guardian, as well as everything that is recorded in the control book, especially the information of the bride, whether she is a virgin or previously married, and obtaining her consent and recording the medical report and the rest of the conditions. Witnesses also have a great role in responsibility, and the contract must not be based on defamation, but rather be regular in spirit and text with the provisions of Sharia and what the esteemed Ministry of Justice organized in controlling contracts, because in them is a substitution of intimacy according to what God has permitted and the Sunnah has indicated, so the legal and legal requirement is the integrity of the marriage contract of fraud.
In recent months, the Ministry of Justice announced a series of new procedures, which it said would enable those suffering from muscle pain to marry themselves if they faced the family's rejection of their speech and their desires to complete the marriage under any circumstances under the umbrella of the court.
The Minister of Justice, Dr. Walid Al-Sama’ani, circulated strict instructions to the Saudi courts, which jurists and jurists assert are capable of limiting claims of impotence, and the rules regulating lawsuits of impediment stipulate that they must be decided quickly, given that they are cases of a special nature, and in order to ensure that these cases are given the attention they deserve. And to be done without delay.
Adnan Shabrawi (Jeddah) @Adnanshabrawi