Is a marriage contract valid when entered into during a terminal illness?
Chapter on Distant Kindred (Dhawu al-Arham)
Al-Mughni
Book of Inheritance Shares (Farā'id)
Primary text
The marriage contract remains valid when entered into during a terminal illness, according to the majority opinion. This view is held by Abu Hanifa and Al-Shafi'i. The ruling extends to inheritance rights between the spouses. The evidence for validity rests on the principle that a contract of exchange, valid during health, remains valid during illness, just like a sale. Furthermore, it is a marriage executed by competent parties under its prescribed conditions, making it valid as if it occurred during health. A supporting tradition is recorded where Abdur-Rahman ibn Umm Al-Hakam married three women during his illness, stipulating a dowry of one thousand for each to restrict his wife's inheritance share; this was upheld.
Supporting text
Malik holds that if one of the spouses is ill with a life-threatening illness at the time of the contract, the marriage is void, and there is no mutual inheritance unless consummation occurs. In the latter case, the wife is entitled to her stipulated dowry (mahr) up to one-third of the estate, taking precedence over bequests. Some followers of Malik disputed the validity of marrying a non-inheriting woman (like a slave girl or a non-Muslim woman, *dhimmiyya*), with some permitting it because the intent to secure inheritance is absent, while others invalidated it due to the mere possibility of inheritance.