Is it halal (permissible) to marry a half-sister?

- When my mother passed away, my father married a woman with children. The woman my father married has a daughter about my age from her previous husband. Is it halal (permissible) for me to marry this girl?

Dear Brother / Sister,

First of all, let us point out one thing:

A woman’s child from her first husband and a man’s child from his first wife are never siblings. In this respect, using the term siblings may cause misunderstanding.

Accordingly, since you and that girl have different parents, it is halal for you to marry, unless there is some other obstacle, and you can marry if you both regard it appropriate.

According to Islamic law, siblingship is in the form of maternal half-sibling, paternal half-sibling, or full (blood) sibling.

Your case does not fall into any of those three categories. In that case, you are not siblings. It means that there is nothing preventing you from getting married.

In Islam, relatives who are not permissible to marry are listed in verses and hadiths; and it is clearly stated that it is permissible to marry those who are not included in the list.

The women whom a man is forbidden to marry are as follows:

Mother, grandmothers of the mother or father, daughters, sons and daughters’ children, i.e. grandchildren, sisters, daughters of sisters and brothers, paternal aunts, maternal aunts, the wife’s mother, the wife’s daughter by another husband, the son’s wife, the wife’s sister, paternal aunt and maternal aunt as long as their marriage continues, those who worship idols, fire and stars, wet-mothers, wet-sisters, wet-paternal aunts and wet-maternal aunts, and women already married others. (an-Nisa, 4/23-24; Mawsili, al-Ikhtiyar, 3/43)

It is permissible to marry those who are not in the list unless there is another obstacle to marriage. The following is stated in the chapter of an-Nisa after those who are forbidden to marry are listed: “Except for these, all others are lawful.” (see an-Nisa 4/24)

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