How a lawful marriage is contracted

A question from a young man wishing to marry about how a lawful marriage is contracted and how to approach his wife, in which Shaykh Ibn Baz answered that the contract rests on the guardian, the groom and two witnesses, for a known dower, mentioned what is recommended on the wedding night, and set out the ruling on intercourse during pregnancy. ¹

The questioner said he was a young man who wished to marry, adding that there is no shyness in matters of religion, and asked how to approach his wife in the way the Messenger did, what clothes to wear, and whether to keep away from her if she is pregnant. ¹

The Shaykh answered that lawful marriage is well known: the man proposes to the woman and asks about her religion and circumstances, and once he knows she is a suitable Muslim, or has seen her, he marries her lawfully; her guardian contracts the marriage for him in the presence of some students of knowledge who can explain what is proper, the guardian saying 'I have married her to you' and the groom saying 'I accept', before two upright witnesses, so that the contract rests on four, the guardian, the groom and two witnesses, for a dower known between them according to their means. ¹

He mentioned that some scholars recommended that the husband, on first entering upon his wife, pray two units, which is good if he does, and ask God to bring the two together, and that when he touches her he ask God for her good and the good of the nature she was created with, and seek refuge in God from her evil and the evil of her nature, after which he may be intimate with her if he wishes. ¹ On pregnancy he distinguished: if she has conceived by him, there is no harm in intercourse while she is pregnant, but not during menstruation or post-natal bleeding, since a menstruating or post-natal woman is not approached; whereas if he entered upon her and found her pregnant by another man, she owes a waiting period for that other man and the marriage is void. ¹

The answer is published on binbaz.org.sa, the official site of Ibn Baz's legacy, as fatwa 4055, filed under the ruling and importance of marriage and under manners and ethics, with no date on the page. ¹ The museum records this text as a historical document attributed to the body or scholar that issued it; it issues no ruling of its own.