The Status of Safih's Marriage and Mahriya in Fiqh and the Iranian Law

There is not a clear rule about the necessity of Rushd (maturity) for the marriage to take effect. Almost all Shia scholars regard the marriage of a Safih (feeble-minded) person without permission of her/his guardian as ineffective, because of financial implications of marriage and based on general rules of incapacity of Safih and related traditions. Some legal scholars distinguish contracts regarding Mahriya from marriage and believe that incapacity of a Safih is limited to agreements about Mahriya and her/his very marriage is valid. This differentiation does not seem acceptable due to the cohesion of Mahriya and marriage. Mahriya is subsidiary to marriage and an implicit obligation in marriage. Therefore, there is no choice but to say that Safih is regarded as Mahjour (ward) in marriage. The fact that the legislature has not mentioned the necessity of Rushd (maturity) in marriage has its roots in the special status of puberty age and presumption of Rushd at the time of the adoption of civil code and the addition of the clause "physical capacity for marriage'' upon which marriage was forbidden before achieving certain age.