The Quran

Preface

حُرِّمَت عَلَيكُم أُمَّهاتُكُم وَبَناتُكُم وَأَخَواتُكُم وَعَمّاتُكُم وَخالاتُكُم وَبَناتُ الأَخِ وَبَناتُ الأُختِ وَأُمَّهاتُكُمُ اللّاتي أَرضَعنَكُم وَأَخَواتُكُم مِنَ الرَّضاعَةِ وَأُمَّهاتُ نِسائِكُم وَرَبائِبُكُمُ اللّاتي في حُجورِكُم مِن نِسائِكُمُ اللّاتي دَخَلتُم بِهِنَّ فَإِن لَم تَكونوا دَخَلتُم بِهِنَّ فَلا جُناحَ عَلَيكُم وَحَلائِلُ أَبنائِكُمُ الَّذينَ مِن أَصلابِكُم وَأَن تَجمَعوا بَينَ الأُختَينِ إِلّا ما قَد سَلَفَ ۗ إِنَّ اللَّهَ كانَ غَفورًا رَحيمًا

Yusuf Ali

Prohibited to you (For marriage) are:-¹ Your mothers, daughters,² sisters; father?s sisters, Mother?s sisters; brother?s daughters, sister?s daughters; foster-mothers³ (Who gave you suck), foster-sisters; your wives? mothers; your stepdaughters under your⁴ guardianship, born of your wives to whom ye have gone in,- no prohibition if ye have not gone in;- (Those who have been) wives of your sons⁵ proceeding from your loins; and two sisters in wedlock at one and the same time,⁶ except for what is past; for God is Oft-forgiving, Most Merciful;-

This Table of Prohibited Degrees agrees in the main with what is usually accepted among all nations, except in minor details. It begins in the last verse (with father’s widows or divorcees). The scheme is drawn upon the assumption that the person who proposes to marry is a man; if it is a woman, the same scheme will apply, mutatis mutandis; it will read: “your fathers, sons, brothers,” etc.; or you can always read it from the husband’s view of relationship, as there must always be a husband in a marriage.
“Mother” includes grandmother (through the father or mother), great - grandmother, etc.; “daughter” includes granddaughter through son or daughter), great-granddaughter, etc.; “sister,” includes full-sister and half-sister. “Father’s sister” includes grandfather’s sister, etc. and “mother’s sister” includes grandmother’s sister, etc.
“Fosterage” or milk-relationships play an important part in Muslim Law, and count like blood-relationships; it would therefore seem that not only fostermothers and foster-sisters, but foster-mother’s sister, etc., all come within the prohibited degrees.
It is generally held that “under your guardianship” is a description, not a condition. (R).
“Sons” includes grandsons, but excludes adopted sons, or persons treated as such, on account of the words “proceeding from your loins” (Cf. 33:4).
The bar against two sisters in marriage together applies to aunt and niece together, but not to deceased wife’s sister after the wife dies.