Can you appoint your Wali?

The central locus of our blog articles this week is the role of Wali in the Nikah of woman. Wali, being the guardian of Muslim women takes the responsibility of giving her daughter in marriage.

Does Muslim woman has the right to appoint her own Wali or not?

To this, Islam gives a clear answer that a Muslim woman does not have the right to appoint her own Wali. In situations when the woman does not have a legal Muslim guardian according to the laws of Shariah, then she cannot appoint her Wali.

A common practice in many non-Islamic countries is that a woman, having no Muslim mahram as wali, would appoint her own wali. This practice is heavily accepted in the society but if we dig deeper into the practices of Islam, then such an appointment on the part of a woman is considered to wrong in Islam. Such right of appointment is given to the Islamic judge known as Imam.

What are its consequences?

When the woman does the mistake of appointing her own Wali, then it leads to certain bad consequences. Some of them are discussed below:

• The wali who is appointed is often found to be unworthy and is also not trustworthy. He is found to be incapable of properly serving the woman in her best interests.
• Some women take liberty in dealing with the wali. They treat him as an intimate friend or relative. This means that they tend to share intimate secrets with them and also indulge in Khulwah which often leads to committing major sins.
• Some women expect from the Wali much more than what is within his capacity. They tend to be very much demanding and put forth some; unexplained needs. When the only duty of the wali appointed is representing the woman and serving her best interest in relation to her Nikah. Once it is completed, then his duty ends and from that point, he stops being the woman’s wali. Unfortunately, some women take their wali’s position as permanent and keep contacting him for every little and big thing they need or the problem they are facing in life.