Short answer
A man may never marry his mother, daughter, sister, aunts or nieces, the women related to him in the same ways through nursing, his wife's mother, his stepdaughter once he has been intimate with her mother, or his father's or son's wife. Some women are forbidden only for a time, such as a married woman, his wife's sister, or a fifth wife. Cousins are allowed.
Permanent prohibition comes from lineage, from marriage ties and from nursing within the nursing period. In the Hanafi school, in-law prohibition also arises from zina, and from touching a woman with desire, so that her mother and daughters become forbidden to him.
Other madhhabs
- Shafi'i
- Zina and touching with desire create no in-law prohibition; only a valid marriage does.
- Hanbali
- As with the Hanafis, zina creates in-law prohibition.
Explanation
Surah al-Nisa lists the women a man may not marry (4:22 to 23), and the Prophet ﷺ added that nursing forbids what lineage forbids.
Forbidden forever.
- By lineage: his mother and grandmothers, daughters and granddaughters, sisters and half-sisters, paternal and maternal aunts (including his parents' aunts), and nieces, the daughters of his brothers and sisters and their descendants.
- By nursing: the same relations through a woman who nursed him in infancy. See nursing and mahrams.
- By marriage: his wife's mother and grandmothers (by the nikah alone), his stepdaughter once he has been intimate with her mother, his father's wife, and his son's wife.
Forbidden for a time. A woman married to someone else or in her iddah; his wife's sister or aunt while he is married to his wife (see marrying your wife's sister); a fifth wife; a woman he divorced three times, until she has married another man (see halala); and a woman who is neither Muslim nor of the People of the Book (see marrying an atheist).
Allowed. Cousins (see cousin marriage), his wife's sister after his wife's death or after her iddah ends, his brother's widow or divorcee, his stepsister who is no blood relation, and adopted relatives. A Hanafi caution: a man who commits zina with a woman, or touches her with desire, may never marry her mother or her daughter in this school.
The evidence
Quran, Surah An-Nisaa 4:23
حُرِّمَتْ عَلَيْكُمْ أُمَّهَٰتُكُمْ وَبَنَاتُكُمْ وَأَخَوَٰتُكُمْ وَعَمَّٰتُكُمْ وَخَٰلَٰتُكُمْ وَبَنَاتُ ٱلْأَخِ وَبَنَاتُ ٱلْأُخْتِ وَأُمَّهَٰتُكُمُ ٱلَّٰتِىٓ أَرْضَعْنَكُمْ وَأَخَوَٰتُكُم مِّنَ ٱلرَّضَٰعَةِ وَأُمَّهَٰتُ نِسَآئِكُمْ وَرَبَٰٓئِبُكُمُ ٱلَّٰتِى فِى حُجُورِكُم مِّن نِّسَآئِكُمُ ٱلَّٰتِى دَخَلْتُم بِهِنَّ فَإِن لَّمْ تَكُونُوا۟ دَخَلْتُم بِهِنَّ فَلَا جُنَاحَ عَلَيْكُمْ وَحَلَٰٓئِلُ أَبْنَآئِكُمُ ٱلَّذِينَ مِنْ أَصْلَٰبِكُمْ وَأَن تَجْمَعُوا۟ بَيْنَ ٱلْأُخْتَيْنِ إِلَّا مَا قَدْ سَلَفَ ۗ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ كَانَ غَفُورًۭا رَّحِيمًۭا ﴿٢٣﴾
Prohibited to you [for marriage] are your mothers, your daughters, your sisters, your father's sisters, your mother's sisters, your brother's daughters, your sister's daughters, your [milk] mothers who nursed you, your sisters through nursing, your wives' mothers, and your step-daughters under your guardianship [born] of your wives unto whom you have gone in. But if you have not gone in unto them, there is no sin upon you. And [also prohibited are] the wives of your sons who are from your [own] loins, and that you take [in marriage] two sisters simultaneously, except for what has already occurred. Indeed, Allah is ever Forgiving and Merciful.
The main list of women a man may not marry.
Quran, Surah An-Nisaa 4:22
وَلَا تَنكِحُوا۟ مَا نَكَحَ ءَابَآؤُكُم مِّنَ ٱلنِّسَآءِ إِلَّا مَا قَدْ سَلَفَ ۚ إِنَّهُۥ كَانَ فَٰحِشَةًۭ وَمَقْتًۭا وَسَآءَ سَبِيلًا ﴿٢٢﴾
And do not marry those [women] whom your fathers married, except what has already occurred. Indeed, it was an immorality and hateful [to Allah] and was evil as a way.
A father's wife is forbidden forever.
Sahih al-Bukhari 2645
Sahih... يحرم من الرضاعة ما يحرم من النسب ...
"Nursing makes forbidden what lineage makes forbidden."
Nursing relations follow the same list as blood relations.
Sahih al-Bukhari 5109
Sahih... لا يجمع بين المرأة وعمتها ولا بين المرأة وخالتها ...
"A woman may not be married together with her paternal aunt, nor with her maternal aunt."
Some women are forbidden only in combination.
Where the ruling is recorded
- al-Hidaya, Kitab al-Nikah, Fasl fi Bayan al-Muharramat. The forbidden women, and that zina and touching with desire create in-law prohibition.
- Minhaj al-Talibin (Nawawi), Kitab al-Nikah, chapter on the women forbidden in marriage. The Shafi'i view that zina creates no in-law prohibition.
Checked by our team. For a more accurate answer to your own situation, consult a scholar. Quran translation by Sahih International. Hadith Arabic from the standard editions of the six books and the Muwatta, with gradings as recorded there; the English is our own rendering. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.