Muqaddimat al-Nikah
- Author died
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- Editions
- al-Jāmi‘ah al-Islāmīyah bi-al-Madīnah al-Munawwarah
Muqaddimat al-Nikah (Preliminaries of Marriage) is a treatise on Islamic jurisprudence by Muhammad bin Abdul Aziz al-Sudais, addressing the legal rulings, criteria, and procedures that precede the formal conclusion of an Islamic marriage contract.
Subject Matter and Scope
In classical and contemporary legal classifications, the "preliminaries of marriage" (muqaddimāt al-nikāḥ) constitute the introductory section within the broader chapter of marriage (kitāb al-nikāḥ). Jurists structure these topics sequentially according to the real-world stages leading up to the marital union, preceding the pillars (arkān) and valid conditions (shurūṭ) of the contract.
The subject encompasses several fundamental legal and ethical inquiries:
- The Legal Status of Marriage: The legal evaluation of entering into marriage—ranging across rulings such as recommended (mandūb), obligatory (wājib), or permissible (mubāḥ) depending on an individual's personal circumstances and fear of hardship or sin.
- Criteria for Selecting a Spouse: The recommended characteristics sought in a prospective partner, including religious commitment, character, and suitability.
- Marriage Proposal (al-Khiṭbah): The legal status and manner of formal courtship and proposing, as well as prohibited forms of proposal—such as proposing over the existing proposal of another Muslim or proposing during a woman's waiting period (ʿiddah).
- Viewing the Prospective Spouse: The legal scope and limits of looking at a prospective bride or groom prior to finalizing the marriage contract.
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