ABSTRACT
Islamic marriage is defined in very formal and essential terms by classical legal scholars (fuqahā’): it is the contract that makes sexual intercourse licit, or, to put it in a rather crude way, that makes the woman licit to the man. The very term for marriage, nikāḥ, means also sexual intercourse. Thus, nikāḥ excludes zinà, the illicit sexual intercourse, which amounts to a criminal offense (ḥadd) and is punishable with 100 lashes or, in the most serious cases, with stoning. Moreover, licit sexual intercourse is necessary to establish nasab, the patrilineal bond linking the child to his father and other agnates, who are the only relatives entitled to provide him with legal protection.
