Equal in marriage (kufu)

Kufu in the lexicon is the equal or peer, and one says a man is kufu to a woman when he is fit to be her husband. Kafa'a, its noun, names the equality itself. The hadith says that believers' blood is of equal worth ¹.

Marrying a woman to an equal husband is an obligation on the guardians who have the power to compel, according to the Shafi'is and Hanbalis and Abu Yusuf and Muhammad among the Hanafis, on the hadith that women are married only by guardians and to equals. Ibn al-Humam holds that the proofs imply an obligation, and that the sin falls on guardians only when the woman is a minor, since a woman who has reached age cannot be married without her consent ¹.

A guardian who has no power to compel may not marry his ward to a non-equal without her consent, by agreement of the jurists. If she consents, the marriage to a non-equal is allowed, since the equality is a right of the woman and of the guardians, and if all agree to waive it, it is allowed. The jurists cite that the Prophet ﷺ married his daughters, and no one was his equal, and that he ordered Fatima bint Qays to marry Usama ibn Zayd (may God be pleased with him) ^{1 2}.

If a woman with a compelling guardian names a suitable man and the father or grandfather wants another equal, the Shafi'is hold that he may do so in the sounder view, though the opposite view, favoured by al-Subki, obliges him to accept her choice. For a woman without compulsion, the man she names is preferred for certain ³. The Hanbalis hold that she must be married to the man she desires if he is an equal, and that a guardian who refuses to marry her to him is obstructive ³.

If a woman asks her guardian to marry her to an equal whom he is bound to accept and he refuses, he becomes obstructive, and the judge stands in his place; there is no dispute on this. The jurists cite the report of Ma'qil ibn Yasar about his sister and the verse "do not obstruct them" from Surat al-Baqara, verse 232 ². The Malikis hold that if she desires a particular equal and the guardian wants to marry her to another, the judge orders him to marry her to the man she accepts if he has no sound reason ².