Wali (Islamic legal guardian)
Walī (Arabic: ولي, plural ʾawliyāʾ أولياء), is an Arabic word meaning "custodian", "protector", "helper", etc.[1] "Wali" is someone who has "Walayah" (authority or guardianship) over somebody else. While the most common meaning of the word is that of a Muslim saint or holy person,[2] in fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence), wali has a different usage. A father is wali of his children especially for his daughters in marriage.
Wali as male custodian of a woman
According to Islamic law (shari'a) a woman needs a wali, that is a male custodian. In marriage, the marriage contract is signed by not by the bride and groom but by the bride's wali (typically the father or failing that a paternal grandfather or brother of the bride) and the bridegroom. After marriage the husban becomes the wali. Typically a father, brother or husband (a mahram) is a wali.
In the case of the woman's first marriage the father or paternal grandfather is wali mujbir. In this case, the bride's silence is considered consent.[3] If father and grandfather are deceased another male relative may function as wali. If there is no Muslim relative, a qadi may function as wali. There are only very few exceptions to this ruling, e.g. in the Hanafi school of Islamic law a woman may under certain circumstances marry without a wali, if it is not her first marriage.
At least in conservative Muslim countries, such as Saudi Arabia, girls and women are forbidden from traveling, conducting official business, or undergoing certain medical procedures without permission from their male wali.[4]
See also
References
- ^ Hans Wehr, p. 1289
- ^ Robert S. Kramer, Richard A. Lobban Jr., Carolyn Fluehr-Lobban (2013). Historical Dictionary of the Sudan. Historical Dictionaries of Africa (4 ed.). Lanham, Maryland, USA: Scarecrow Press, an imprint of Rowman & Littlefield. p. 361. ISBN 978-0-8108-6180-0. Retrieved 2 May 2015.
QUBBA. The Arabic name for the tomb of a holy man... A qubba is usually erected over the grave of a holy man identified variously as wali (saint), faki, or shaykh since, according to folk Islam, this is where his baraka [blessings] is believed to be strongest...
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Sahih Muslim, The Book of Marriage (Kitab Al-Nikah), Book 008, Number 3303.
- ^ "World Report 2013 - Saudi Arabia". 2013. Human Rights Watch. Archived from the original on 2014-01-09. Retrieved 22 February 2014.