What is the ruling if a man stipulates that his intended wife must be a virgin (*bikr*), but she is found to be non-virgin (*thayyib*)?
General Chapter
Al-Mughni
Book of Marriage
Primary text
There are two principal interpretations regarding the husband's right to annulment when the wife is discovered to be non-virgin contrary to his stipulation. One view suggests he has no right to annulment because the marriage contract cannot be voided for a defect unless it falls under one of eight specific defects, and deviation from a condition is not among them. The second view grants him the right to annulment because he stipulated a specific, intended quality that proved contrary to reality, similar to stipulating freedom.
Supporting text
Under the second opinion granting the right to annulment, the same ruling applies if he stipulated she possessed a noble lineage but she did not, or stipulated she was fair-skinned but she was dark-skinned, or stipulated she was tall but she was short, or stipulated she was beautiful but she was unsightly; two views arise in all these scenarios. Historical reports indicate that scholars like Al-Thawri, Al-Shafi'i, Ahmad, Ishaq, and the companions of 'Ra'i' (legal reasoning) obligated the husband to accept the wife even if she was not a virgin. Reports from Al-Zuhri, Al-Hasan, Al-Sha'bi, and Ibrahim suggest that if a man does not find his wife to be a virgin, nothing is incumbent upon him, attributing the loss of virginity to factors like menstruation, jumping, difficult pregnancies, or vigorous activity.