Cheating in Marriage

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A man had two daughters, one of them was from an Arab wife and the other from another wife who hailed from some country other than Arabia.

A young man contracted to marry the gjrl who was the daughter of the man’s Arab wife. The marriage performed, he brought her to his house and paid her the dower.

The day after the night they had passed as husband and wife, he came to know that he was decieved by the father of his wife, who had married to him his other daughter instead of the one who was from his Arab wife and whom he had contracted to give to him (the young man) in wedlock.

When the case regarding this deceitful marriage was taken to Moawiya, he  was unable to decide the case and, therefore referred it to Hazrat Ali (A) who was then at Kufa.

When the case was presented before Ali (A) he ordered the father of the gjrl to give his second daughter to the young man in marriage together with a dower equal to the dower the young man had paid to his first daughter. He also ordered the young man to divorce his first wife and live separate from her till the expiry of her probation period and then remarry her, if he liked. Besides, the father of the two girls was also ordered to pay the penalty for cheating the young man.

(Mustadrik, vol. 2, p. 603, Manaqib, vol. 2, p. 197; Nasikhut Tawarikh, vol. 3, p. 738 through Abu Turab (Urdu) vol. 2, p. 155).

Reference : Judgments of Hazrat Ali (as)