﴿وَمِنْ آيَاتِهِ أَنْ خَلَقَ لَكُم مِّنْ أَنفُسِكُمْ أَزْوَاجًا لِّتَسْكُنُوا إِلَيْهَا وَجَعَلَ بَيْنَكُم مَّوَدَّةً وَرَحْمَةً إِنَّ فِي ذَلِكَ لَآيَاتٍ لِّقَوْمٍ يَتَفَكَّرُونَ﴾(الروم:21)
“And of His signs is that He created for you from yourselves mates that you may find tranquility in them; and He placed between you affection and mercy. Indeed in that are signs for a people who give thought.” [Quran, 30:21]
Introduction
Among the services I offer is conducting Islamic marriages. An Islamic marriage is a contract with the exchanging of a verbal agreement between the Bride – who initiates the contract and the Groom – who accepts.
Should you wish to get Islamically married, please read this quick information and contact me to make an appointment.
Marriage is our Sunnah and highly recommended:
The Prophet (s.a.w.) said: “There is no institution in Islam more beloved and dearer to Allah than Marriage.” [Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 103, p. 222, no. 40]
The Prophet (s.a.w.) said: “A married person asleep is better in the sight of Allah than an unmarried person who fasts and spends his night in prayer.” [Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 103, p. 221, no. 25]
The Mahr
In the holy Quran it is referred to as Sidaaq, which comes from the word sidq, truthfulness. The Mahr, or nuptial/bridal gift is a token, a symbol, a sign of the grooms truthfulness and honesty in his proposal to marrying the bride.
It must be something specified, and does not need to be money. It does not represent how much the groom loves the bride, it will not elevate the bride’s social status and it has nothing to do with divorce.
It is just a gesture of truthfulness. This is why the holy Prophet (s.a.w.) has said: The best of the women of my Ummah is she with the least mahr.” [al-Kafi, vol. 5, p. 324]
Conditions
In order to safeguard both the groom and the bride, and to avoid any future problems or altercations placing conditions within the Marriage Contract is something we highly advice. It is best to have such conditions and hopefully have no need for them, than to not have any and need them when problems arise.
Here are some conditions that can be added, to which both parties should agree on and add to marriage contract:
- The husband abandons his wife for one year or more for any reason.
- The wife abandons her husband for one year or more for any reason.
- Ongoing violence or abuse of any sort towards the wife/children.
- Husband’s addiction to anything haram/illegal.
- Absence of the husband or his disappearance or imprisonment for one year or more
In, for example, these aforementioned cases, should the husband violate any condition the wife has the authority to divorce herself from him in the case when the husband – God forbid – refuses to cooperate or set her free
The Process
- Specify the Mahr
- Specify the Conditions (should there be any)
- Ask Bride for authorisation to act on her behalf
- Conduct marriage contract with Groom on behalf of Bride.
Practice
Marriage = Tazweej. Nikah. Zawaj
The Agent/Representative/Wakeel of the Bride says:
Zawajtuka/Ankahtuka muwakilati ala al-mahr/al-sidaq al-malum (wa al-shurut al-ma’lumah)
I marry my client to You on the specified Nuptual Gift (Mahr) of ….. (and the agreed upon conditions)
The groom replies:
Qabiltul Tazweej.
Qabiltul Nikah
Qabiltul Tazweej wal-Nikah
“I accepted the Marriage.”
For further reading please download this short Islamic Marriage Guidebook:
To book your Islamic Marriage Ceremony please email me on:enquiries@sheikh-alsalami.org.au
