Marrying one’s own daughter in Islam is HARAM!

 November 14th, 2008  Ibn Anwar

Is it allowed in Islam to marry biological daughters produced out of adultery?

By Ibn Anwar

A couple of hours ago I saw a video on youtube of an unfair dialogue between the notorious Christian_Prince and brother Abu Shaab/The_Spirit_Of_Truth. The dialogue was conducted in Christian_Prince’s room on Paltalk. In that video Abu_Shaab was made to quote from Al-Qurtubi’s tafsir which apparently suggests that a man can get married to his daughter who is produced from adultery. Abu_Shaab was not allowed to fully explain the whole issue as he was dotted again and again by Christian_Prince the clown of Christianity. Christian_Prince gloated in the video like the clown that he is saying,”God allows him to have sex with his daughter by marrying her” and that “in Islam you can marry your daughter”. The tafsir of Al-Qurtubi is used to score these cheap worthless points. In this article we shall expose Christian_Prince for what he really is, a snake and a fraud!

*Click here to watch the video

First and foremost, I challenge Christian_Prince and his lackies to show me where Allah or God gave permission to marry one’s own daughters in the Qur’an. Trust me he will not be able to produce a single verse which says anything close to what he claims Islam allows. In fact, we read in the Qur’an:

 حُرِّمَتْ عَلَيْكُمْ أُمَّهَٰتُكُمْ وَبَنَٰتُكُمْ وَأَخَوَٰتُكُمْ وَعَمَّٰتُكُمْ وَخَالَٰتُكُمْ وَبَنَاتُ ٱلأَخِ وَبَنَاتُ ٱلأُخْتِ وَأُمَّهَٰتُكُمُ الَّٰتِي أَرْضَعْنَكُمْ وَأَخَوَٰتُكُم مِّنَ ٱلرَّضَٰعَةِ وَأُمَّهَٰتُ نِسَآئِكُمْ وَرَبَائِبُكُمُ ٱلَّٰتِي فِي حُجُورِكُمْ مِّن نِّسَآئِكُمُ ٱلَّٰتِي دَخَلْتُمْ بِهِنَّ فَإِن لَّمْ تَكُونُواْ دَخَلْتُمْ بِهِنَّ فَلاَ جُنَاحَ عَلَيْكُمْ وَحَلَٰئِلُ أَبْنَائِكُمُ ٱلَّذِينَ مِنْ أَصْلَٰبِكُمْ وَأَن تَجْمَعُواْ بَيْنَ ٱلأُخْتَيْنِ إِلاَّ مَا قَدْ سَلَفَ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ كَانَ غَفُوراً رَّحِيماً

“Prohibited to you (For marriage) are:- Your mothers, daughters, sisters; father’s sisters, Mother’s sisters; brother’s daughters, sister’s daughters; foster-mothers (Who gave you suck), foster-sisters; your wives’ mothers; your step-daughters under your guardianship, born of your wives to whom ye have gone in,- no prohibition if ye have not gone in;- (Those who have been) wives of your sons proceeding from your loins; and two sisters in wedlock at one and the same time, except for what is past; for Allah is Oft-forgiving, Most Merciful” (Surah Al-Nisa’ 4:23)

The verse itself totally destroys Christian_Prince’s accusations. It categorically forbids marriage to daughters. But, one might ask what about Al-Qurtubi’s tafsir? Well, it is just that..a tafsir. And I know as pointed out by the tafsir of Qurtubi that there are scholars who claim that a man is allowed to marry the child who is conceived out of adultery because she isn’t really his daughter. However, this in truth is a very minority view. There is no explicit injunction anywhere in the Qur’an or Sunnah to support this position. It is claimed that Imam Al-Shafi’e gave his permission as seen in the tafsir of Qurtubi quoted by Christian_Prince. This view purpotedly from Imam Al-Shafi’e is fraught with problems. Firstly, according to Ibn Taimiyyah

هذا يقوله من ليس من أصحاب الشافعي وبعضهم ينقله عن الشافعي ومن أصحاب الشافعي من أنكر ذلك عنه

“That was not narrated from Al-Shafi’e companions. Some narrated that from Al-Shafi’e, and there are from his companions who rejected that he said that”. (Majma’ Al-Fatawa)

Even if one were to accept that Imam Al-Shafi’e actually gave such a fatwa it is as mentioned before a very minority view. As such, a Muslim is not obligated to adhere to it since 1. There is clear injunction against it from 4:23, 2. The majority of scholars from all the madhaheeb especially the Hanafiyyah, Hanbaliyyah and Malikiyyah agree against it. And in Islam we are commanded to hold fast to the majority.

“Follow the great mass (as-Sawad al-Azam) for he who kept himself away from it, in fact would be thrown in Hell Fire.” (Ibn Majah, Mishkat, 1/174)

Thus we see the overwhelming majority position:

“It is haraam for a man to marry his illegitimate daughter, or his illegitimate sister, or his (illegitimate) son’s daughter, or his daughter’s daughter, or his brother’s daughter, or his sister who is illegitimate. This is the view of most of the fuqaha’.”

Al-Mughni (7/485)

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It says in al-Mawsoo’ah al-Fiqhiyyah (36/210):

It is haraam for a man to marry his illegitimate daughter, because of the clear meaning of the verse (interpretation of the meaning):

“Forbidden to you (for marriage) are: your mothers, your daughters…”

[al-Nisa’ 4:23]

because she is his daughter in a real sense and in linguistic terms and she was created from his water (i.e. sperm), so the illegitimate son is forbidden (in marriage) to his mother.

This is the view of the Hanafis and of the Maalikis and Hanbalis.

Islam Q & A

Tafsir Ibn Kathir:

This honorable Ayah is the Ayah that establishes the degrees of women relatives who are never eligible for one to marry, because of blood relations, relations established by suckling or marriage. Ibn Abi Hatim recorded that Ibn `Abbas said, “(Allah said) I have prohibited for you seven types of relatives by blood and seven by marriage.” Ibn `Abbas then recited the Ayah,(Forbidden to you (for marriage) are: your mothers, your daughters, your sisters…) At-Tabari recorded that Ibn `Abbas said, “Seven degrees of blood relation and seven degrees of marriage relation are prohibited (for marriage).” He then recited the Ayah,(Forbidden to you (for marriage) are: your mothers, your daughters, your sisters, your father’s sisters, your mother’s sisters, your brother’s daughters, your sister’s daughters) and these are the types prohibited by blood relation.” (Translation of Ibn Kathir)

“It has been reported that Imaam Ash-Shaafi’ee, may Allaah have Mercy on him, permitted this. However, this is a weak opinion and it is not given any consideration.”

Wasee Allaah Abbas

Tafsir Jalalayn:

“Forbidden to you are your mothers, in marriage, and this includes the paternal and maternal grandmothers; and daughters, including their children, if they should lower themselves [to such standards]; …” (Tafsir Jalalayn)

Tafsir Qur’an Karim:

“In these verses Allah explains about women who are forbidden to a man in marriage, namely: your step-mother (father’s wife), your mother, your daughter …” (Prof. Dr. H. Mahmud Yunus, pg. 110, Tafsir Qur’an Karim)

Tafsir Ma’riful Qur’an:

“Similarly, if a person fathers a daughter by indulging in zina(fornication/adultery) with a woman, the girl thus born will be governed by the rule which applied to a daughter and marriage with her too will not be correct.” (Mufti Shafi’ Usmani, Ma’riful Qur’an, Volume 2, pages 376-377)

‘Umdat Al-Salik or Reliance of the Traveller which is a compendium of fiqh rulings is a collection of the most relied upon positions in the Shafi’e madhhab. There is not a single instance where it says men can marry their daughters if they are born out of wedlock. Instead it clearly states,

        … يحرم(بعنى التا، ثيم و عد م  الصحة)نكاح …والبنات

“It is unlawful (meaning both sinful and legally invalid) for a man to marry…the daughters…”(Reliance of the Traveller, p. 527)

The verdict is thus:

Islam PROHIBITS men from marrying their daughters. Nowhere does God allow such a thing. CHristian_Prince is a joke.

Allahu’alam Bisawab

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Nice article mashaAllah. The hadith about sawad e azam is so important in order to stick to the straight path. By the way, what does the bible say about marrying daughters? Is there any verse in the New Testament that says marrying daughters is forbidden.There is a list of forbidden women in Leviticus 18:6-18 but I dont see daughter as a forbidden category, and I dont know if any other verse forbids sex with daughters. Even if there be a verse that says having sex with daughters is forbidden a smimilar command should be in the NT as well for it to be applicable to christians since as per christian doctrine after christ all unclean stuff have been made clean including pork, so what is stated in OT may not be applicable for them as they are under a new covenant.

But there is a problem, in the OT chapter genesis 19:30-36, God narrates a story of incest and ends it like this;

37: And the firstborn bare a son, and called his name Moab: the same is the father of the Moabites unto this day.
38: And the younger, she also bare a son, and called his name Benammi: the same is the father of the children of Ammon unto this day.

The narrator doesnt mention even once that such relations are a sin, infact to the reader it seems like the person narrating it is telling how things happen in a very calm and normal manner, in the way mothers tell bed time story for their kids. And when I combine it to Leviticus 18:6-18 , and find no reference of a daughter as illegal for sex, i fall in serious doubt. I hope I am missing something all this while coz no matter how hateful christians maybe,I still like to read the bible and would like to see nothing but good in it.

Lastly, I would like to know what christians have to say about this verse;

But if any man thinks that he is behaving himself unseemly toward his virgin daughter, if she be past the flower of her age, and if need so requires, let him do what he will; he is not sinning; let them marry” (1 Corinthians 7:36).

Different translations have different words used, so maybe bro Ibn Anwar can check whether the greek bible is similar to this translation or not. Thanks.

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According to Paul, a father can marry his own daughter

“But if any man thinks that he is behaving himself unseemly toward his virgin daughter, if she be past the flower of her age, and if need so requires, let him do what he will; he is not sinning; let them marry” (1 Corinthians 7:36).

According to snake Paul, a father is allowed to marry his own daughter, if he cannot resist the temptation of being intimate with her.

Notice the subject of the text is the father and daughter. If the father cannot behave towards his daughter and feels he cannot keep his sexual desires away from her then, "he is not sinning if they both marry", i.e. father and daughter.

Its better the father and daughter marry then commit sin according to Paul.

There you have it incest allowed thanks to Paul