Marriage prohibitions in Islam

By Sheikh Abdirahman D. Guhad

Whom can you NOT marry in Islam? Which marriage is prohibited for a Muslim? 32 prohibitions in all! It’s all set out in the Quran, and the Sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad (SAW). They are in 3 broad categories:

Prohibitions in Kinship / Blood Relation

1. The mother

2. The daughter

3. The sister

4. The paternal aunt (your father’s sister)

5. The maternal aunt (your mother’s sister)

6. The niece through brother (your brother’s daughter)

7. The niece through sister (your sister’s daughter)

Prohibitions by Breastfeeding / Nursing/ Foster mothers

[“Suckling makes women unlawful (for marriage), the same way birth makes it unlawful.” Sahih Muslim]

8. Your mother, through breastfeeding (the woman who nursed you)

9. Your daughter, through breastfeeding (a woman nursed by your wife)

10. Your sister, through breastfeeding (a woman who nursed with you)

11. Your paternal aunt, through breastfeeding (she nursed with your father)

12. Your maternal aunt, through breastfeeding (she nursed with your mother)

13. Your niece, through brother by breastfeeding

14. Your niece, through sister by breastfeeding

Prohibitions by Marriage Relations

15. Your mother-in-law (your wife’s mother)

16. Your wife’s maternal aunt (your mother-in-law’s sister)

17. Your wife’s paternal aunt (your father-in-law’s sister)

18. Your sister-in-law (your wife’s sister)

19. Your wife’s niece through sister (wife’s sister’s daughter)

20. Your wife’s niece through brother (wife’s brother’s daughter)

21. Your stepdaughter under your guardianship (from a wife previously married)

22. The stepmother (father’s wife)

23. The son’s wife (daughter-in-law)

Other Prohibitions

24. The Mushrikah (polytheist woman)

25. Zaaniyah (The Adulteress)

26. Mulāʿana (the woman who has been mutually cursed)

27. The married woman ( a woman already married to another man)

28. A fifth wife (when already married to four)

29. The divorced woman still in her waiting period (‘idda)

30. A woman you divorced with an irrevocable 3rd divorce (baynūna kubrā)

31. A woman in pilgrimage (Hajj) or ‘Umrah state (Iḥrām)

32. A slave woman, if one is already married to a free woman

All Others are lawful.

Sheikh Abdirahman Guhad is the Imam, Masjid Quba, South C