Some Defects which Must be Revealed that Can Affect the Validity of the Marriage

Shaykh Mar’i ibn Yusuf Al-Karmi Al-Maqdisi (d. 1033 h.)

The categories in which a person has the choice (to marry or not, or to remain married if they are discovered or to nullify the marital contract) are three:

The Category that is Specific to the Man, such as: him not having a phallus or testicles; or him being impotent. She may annul the marriage in this case. If he is impotent by his (own) admission or it is proven to be the case or she seeks from him his word (that he is not impotent) and he withholds from taking an oath yet he is not able to copulate with her, he can be granted respite for a lunar year from the time that she complains about him to the ruler. If that (year) elapses and he is not intimate with her she may be granted an annulment.

That Which is Specific to the Woman: Such as there being a blockage (or growth) over her vaginal entrance and the male’s phallus cannot enter, or it has an odor or a leaking wound or a perineal tear between the two passages or persistent vaginal bleeding (Mustahadah).

That which is Common to Both Men and Women: Insanity, even if it is periodical, an infectious disease, leprosy, extremely foul breath, hemorrhoids, fistula, incessant leakage of urine or feces.

One may be granted an annulment for any of the preceding defects and not for anything else; such as being one eyed, cripple, or having one’s hand or foot amputated; or being blind, or mute, or deaf.

Taken from Dalil At-Talib Li-Nayl Al-Matalib pg. 269

Translated by Raha Batts