{{Short description|Term in Islamic jurisprudence}} {{Fiqh|family}}
'''Kafā'ah''' ({{langx|ar|الكفاءة}}; ''{{Transliteration|ar|ALA|al-kafā'ah}}'') is a term used to describe a form of endogamy in the field of Islamic jurisprudence with regard to marriage in Islam, which in Arabic, literally means 'equality' or 'equivalence'.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://islamicencyclopedia.org/public/islamic-discussions/index.php?p=/discussion/520/kafaah-%D9%83%D9%8E%D9%81%D8%A7%D8%A6%D9%8E%D8%A9|title=Kafaah كَفائَة - Islamic Encyclopedia|website=islamicencyclopedia.org}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IfIyAQAAQBAJ&q=kafaah+encyclopedia&pg=PA149|title=The Lineaments of Islam: Studies in Honor of Fred McGraw Donner|first=Paul|last=Cobb|date=22 June 2012|publisher=BRILL|isbn=9789004231948|via=Google Books}}</ref> It is thus defined as the equivalence between a prospective husband and his prospective wife which should be adhered to.<ref name="awakening" /> This compatibility is dependent on multiple factors that include religion, social status, morality, piety, wealth, lineage or custom.<ref name="kafaah">{{cite book| url=https://archive.org/details/leqaaashr| title= الكفااة في النكاح (Kafa'ah in Marriage)| author= عبد الستار ابو غدّه (Abdul Sattaar Abu Ghuddah) | publisher=Daarul Basharail Islamiyah| location=Beirut| year=2002| language=ar}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title = Sayyids and Sharifs in Muslim Societies|last = Kazuo|first = Morimoto|publisher = Routledge|year = 2012|isbn = 978-0-415-51917-5|pages = 79, 87, 91|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=5VnmEMh0MF4C&pg=PP1}}</ref>
== Legal rulings == Islamic scholars (ulama) hold differing opinions and arguments on the doctrine of kafa'ah based on the Quran and Hadith. What is consistently agreed upon by the four Sunni schools of law is the compatibility of religion. Muslim women can thus marry only Muslim men, but Muslim men are also permitted to marry Jewish or Christian women. In Shia Islam, there is no concept of kafa'ah on the basis of lineage.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.saffar.org/?act=artc&id=950| script-title=ar:الكفاءة في الزواج |language=ar| access-date=June 23, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite AV media| url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6KAZy1oUUU| script-title=ar:الفرق بين الشيعة والسنة في اعتبار كفاءة الزوج |language=ar | access-date=June 23, 2014}}</ref>
=== Hanafism === According to the traditional Hanafi school of thought, kafa'ah represents a special proportionality between a man and a woman in marriage.{{citation needed|date = January 2020}}
=== Malikism === The traditional Maliki position states that kafa'ah is the proportionality in religion for both husband and wife.{{citation needed|date = January 2020}}
=== Shafi'ism === According to the Shafi'i school of thought, kafa'ah concerns the factors of lineage, religiousness, profession, and being free of defects that permit annulling the marriage contract (nikah). It must not be misunderstood as a recommendation of whom to marry. Rather, it should be taken as a legal restriction to protect a woman's interest in her marriage. If a woman wishes to marry someone who is seemingly incompatible based these factors, there is nothing wrong in her doing so. Accordingly, an Arab woman should not marry a non-Arab man; similarly, a virtuous woman should not marry a corrupt man, (though it is sufficient should the husband give up his wrongdoing). A daughter of someone with a higher profession should not marry a man of a lowly profession. The wealth of either parties is not a factor to be considered, as it is merely temporary and "those with self-respect and intelligence do not take pride in it."<ref name= "reliance1">{{cite web |url=http://www.catheyallison.com/Reliance_of_the_Traveller.pdf |title=Reliance of the Traveller |author=Ahmad ibn Naqib al-Misri, Nuh Ha Mim Keller |pages=523–524 [m4.0-m.4.5] |date=1368 |work=Amana Publications |access-date=14 May 2020 |archive-date=19 August 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160819082808/http://www.catheyallison.com/Reliance_of_the_Traveller.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name = "reliance2">{{cite web|url=http://dailyrollcall.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/the-reliance-of-the-traveller.pdf |title=A Classic Manual of Islamic Scared Law |author= Ahmad ibn Naqib al-Misri, Nuh Ha Mim Keller |date=1368| page= Chapter M4.0: A Suitable Match (Kafa`a) [m4.0-m.4.5] | work=Shafiifiqh.com|access-date=14 May 2020}}</ref>
=== Hanbalism === Scholars of the Hanbali school of thought state that kafa'ah represents the similarities and proportionality based on five factors, namely, religion, lineage, independence, jobs and wealth.<ref name="kafaah" /><ref>{{cite web| url=http://benmashoor.wordpress.com/2008/12/22/pengertian-kafa%E2%80%99ah/| author=ben Mashhoor, Idrus| title=Pengertian Kafa'ah| language=id|access-date=June 22, 2014}}</ref>
== Objectives == The main goal of kafa'ah is to make a peaceful and lasting marriage. The argument is that a household built based on the common perceptions, equivalent views, and understandings would make a peaceful and happy marriage. However, if such a rationale is to be accepted, it raises the question as to why these restrictions only apply to a prospective wife and not the husband.<ref name=":0" /> An objective more congruous with the legal rulings would be to protect the interests of the prospective wife by ensuring that she is not in disgrace in her conjugal bond. This however, raises the question as to why it would be a disgrace for an Arab woman to marry a non-Arab man.{{citation needed|date = January 2020}}
== The Hadhrami controversy ==
=== Social stratification between Sayyids and non-Sayyids === The controversies associated with the doctrine of kafa'ah were exemplified in a chain of events which occurred in Hadhramaut, Yemen, in 1905. People of the Ba 'Alawi sada, especially of Hadhrami descent, adhered to a stricter and more rigid system of social stratification based on the kafa'ah of descent. In particular, a Sayyid woman is prohibited from marrying a non-Sayyid man.<ref name="awakening">{{cite book|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=c45Xvsq2q4UC&q=kafa%27ah&pg=PA95|title = The Hadrami Awakening: Community and Identity in the Netherlands East Indies, 1900-1942|first = Natalie|last = Mobini-Kesheh|edition = illustrated|publisher = SEAP Publications|year = 1999|pages = 94–96, 98|isbn = 978-0-8772-7727-9}}</ref> This extreme position is absent in the canon of orthodox Shāfi'i scholarship, the school to which the Hadramis otherwise adhered.<ref name="awakening" /> Controversy erupted when a number of marriages between Sayyid women and non-Sayyid men were publicly discovered, which thus became a subject of public condemnation and clamour because of their perceived unsuitability.<ref name=":0" />
=== Dissent by Rashid Rida and Ahmad Surkati === In response to the heated controversy, Islamic reformer Rashid Rida argued that such marriages were valid and permissible, in his journal ''al-Manār'' in Egypt.<ref name=":0" /> There was nothing in Islamic law, as he argued, that prohibited marriages between Sayyid women and non-Sayyid men.<ref name=":0" /> Rida's views were echoed by Ahmad Surkati, who wrote a pamphlet in 1915 titled ''Surah al-Jawāb'' (The Form of the Answer) in permitting such marriages based on the principle of equality.<ref name="awakening" /> According to Surkati, kafa'ah should be restricted to the rationale of ensuring a good relationship between the partners; accordingly, if a woman decides to marry someone seemingly inferior, because "of other such qualities which please women", she is allowed to do so.<ref name="awakening" />
The traditional Hadhrami interpretation of kafa'ah (in restricting marriage between Sayyid women and non-Sayyid men) is not found in the canon of orthodox Islamic scholarship.<ref name="awakening" /> The arguments promulgated by Rida and Surkati were defenses of traditional Islamic scholarship and rejections of Hadhrami societal attitudes determined by self-interest.<ref name="awakening" />
=== Rebuttal by Sayyid Umar al-Attas === These arguments, however, were strongly rebutted by Sayyids, one of whom was Sayyid Umar al-Attas, a leading Hadhrami scholar residing in Singapore, who declared such marriages to be unlawful. In doing so, he identified four levels of compatibility based on descent (which always applies for women and not for men, ''i.e.,'' a man can marry someone from a lower rank, but a woman cannot): Arabs must not marry non-Arabs, Qurashīs must not marry non-Qurashīs, Hāshimites must not marry non-Hāshimites, and descendants of Hasan and Husayn must not marry anyone other than other Hasanids and Husaynids.<ref name=":0" /> In his book published in 1905, ''The Marriage Between A Sharifah and A Non-Sharif and Esteemed Position of Ahl al-Bayt'', he concluded that it is impermissible for a Sayyid woman to marry a non-Sayyid man, even if it is based on her own desires or with the consent of her wali.<ref name="surkati">{{cite thesis| degree=Master of Arts| url=https://escholarship.mcgill.ca/concern/theses/0k225g151| title=Shaykh Ahmad Al-Surkati: His Role in Al-Irshad Movement in Java in the Early Twentieth Century| first=Bisri| last=Affandi| publisher=McGill University | location=Montreal | date=March 1976| pages=52–54}}</ref> Additionally, Abdullāh Daḥlān attacked Surkati's stance that all humans were equal, arguing instead that God had created some humans like the Prophet's family as superior to others. The dispute quickly deteriorated into racist diatribes. Daḥlān reportedly remarked about Surkati, "''Will the Negro stand corrected of his saying or persist in his stubbornness?''" Other Hadhrami Sayyids insulted Surkati by calling him "the black death", "black slave", "the black", "the Sudanese" or "the Negro", all while claiming that he could not speak Arabic and that he was a non-Arab.<ref name="awakening" />
=== Consequences === The far-reaching consequences of this heated discussion went beyond the doctrine of kafa'ah and sparked a power struggle in Hadhramī communities in South East Asia. People began to openly question the rigid system of social stratification dominated by the Sayyids, their status and privileges.<ref name=":0" /><ref name="awakening" /> Some of the practices that became publicly contentious include the custom of taqbil (kissing the hands of Sayyids), and the exclusive use of the title, "Sayyid" itself.<ref name="awakening" /><ref name=":0" />
==See also== {{Portal|Islam}} * Divorce in Islam * Marriage in Islam
==References== {{reflist}}
Category:Marriage in Islam Category:Women's rights in Islam Category:Islamic terminology