On Equality in Marriage

Hazrat Umar bin Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) said that none of the habits of ignorance remain in me except that when marrying or arranging a marriage, I do not consider which Muslim I am marrying or to whom I am arranging the marriage.

Hazrat Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) forbade that an Arab marry a slave woman.

Hazrat Muhammad bin Abdullah bin Kathir bin Salt (may Allah have mercy on him) says that one of our freed slaves married an Arab woman. He was brought to Hazrat Umar bin Abdul Aziz (may Allah have mercy on him), so he said that the freed slave of Al-Kathir has followed the same path.

Hazrat Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said that I order women of noble lineage to marry only men of equal status.

Hazrat Amr bin Abi Qarah Kindi (may Allah have mercy on him) narrates that his father requested Hazrat Salman (may Allah have mercy on him) to marry his sister, but he refused and instead married a freed slave woman of theirs named Baqirah.

Hazrat Salman (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "We will neither let them lead us in prayer nor will we marry their women."

Hazrat Ibn Shihab, may Allah have mercy on him, says that an Arab and a freed slave cannot be equal in lineage.

Hasan (may Allah have mercy on him) says that I asked Ibn Abi Layla (may Allah have mercy on him) about equality in marriage, so he said that equality is in religion and status. I asked, "Is it in wealth?" He replied, "No."