 I met a brother online and felt like I wanted to marry him. I tried to introduce him to my parents, but my father has turned down everyone I have suggested. I traveled to his home country and got married to him. We've now been married for a year and I'm starting to question whether my marriage is valid. Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds. Praise be to him, the handsome and the beautiful. I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, alone and no partner. He says the truth and He guides the way. I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger, may God be with him, and his family and companions. In response to the question that the sister asked, the actual and the default position is that it's not permissible for the father or the guardian to prevent his daughter from getting married to the right person when he comes about. Allah says in the Qur'an, do not prevent them. It means if the right person comes for the hand of your daughter, Allah is instructing us as fathers and as guardians not to prevent that girl from the right person. If the father chooses to be stubborn and prevents the girl from marrying the right person, then in Islam the woman will not be oppressed. The guardianship will swiftly move on to next in power, the person who is closest. I will make a detailed series on this, where I will speak about this issue in great details, who is next in Kim and who is next in power to take over. But then if she doesn't have any of that, she has no one else to take her responsibility and the dispute stands, the qadi will marry her off to the person he sees fit for her. A woman is not allowed to marry herself off if there is no problem, she finds a boy that she likes and she wants him and she's too shy to take him to her father and so she goes and she marries herself off. This is not allowed in Islam, it's prohibited. It goes against the clique of evidences and it also goes against the view of the great scholars of Islam such as Malik Ibn Anas and Shafiq Ibn Ahmed. Imam Abu Hanifa opposed the evidence in this issue with the respect and love that we have for him, we will choose the evidence over his opinion and his view. Because the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam he said The Prophet said, any woman who marries herself off without the permission of her guardian, then her marriage is false. It's null and void, it has no base to it. Also the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam told us if he then has sexual intercourse with her that man, what's the ruling? The Prophet said If he has sexual intercourse with her in this way, then she still has the right of dowry, this woman. And her dowry will be the dowry of the women of her city and her town. The Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam he said Now my beloved brothers and sisters, the marriage in Islam is not what many people understand from it. Some people assume going to the town hall and marry yourself off in the UK system, for instance, or the American system, makes it a marriage. In Islam, there is no nikah without the permission of a guardian and two witnesses. The Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam he said There is no nikah, there's no marriage to a woman unless there is the permission of the guardian and two witnesses. There has to be two witnesses in Islam. And these two witnesses cannot be non-Muslims. There have to be two Muslims who are reliable. Also in a sister's question, she said I travelled to another country to get married to this brother. The sister should know that it is not permissible for a woman to travel to another country without her guardian with her. Or her mahram. All of those people are her mahram. She has to travel with them. The Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam he said The Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam he said It's not permissible for a woman who believes in Allah and believes in the day of judgment for her to travel a traveling of three days or more except that she does it with her father, her brother, her husband, her son, or someone who is her mahram. Now, some other narrations clearly categorically state that she's not allowed to travel at all whether it be a minute or two without a guardian. So, the sister has to understand that and if she did travel without a mahram, without any disputation between her and her guardian and she just ran and she got married and what she is saying is not the case then what the sister needs to remember is that the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam has a statement Her marriage is null and void and the qaida according to the scholars and the da'bit is that First of all, you traveled without a mahram then you get the sin for it and that is a means that you took in order to get married so you built your marriage from the beginning in disobeying Allah and then if the guardian wasn't a problem for you and you went to the other country and then you married yourself off then your nikah is null and void your issue needs to be revised by a qadi who can look deeply into the issue I only gave you an outline If you have any questions you'd like to see answered as part of this series then you can email us at questions at amau.org