Muslim Marriage Blog
August 13, 2022 | matrimony
Muslim marriage and its prerequisites, what are the circumstances in which a Muslim marriage cannot take place
Marriage is a necessity of every society, religion etc. In Muslim law also, the concept of marriage, which is called Nikah, has been kept. Every society and system has been stressed on the necessity of marriage to lead a married life. Similarly, in the Muslim law also the emphasis is on marriage.
‘The Prophet has told in the hadith that marriage is half faith. No believer is complete until he solemnizes the marriage.’
Definitions of marriage (Nikah) have been introduced by many Muslim jurists and the courts of India and from time to time definitions of nikah in Muslim marriage have emerged.
Some Muslim jurists have termed Muslim marriage only as a contract and some jurists have also called sacrament with contract, but if seen in reality, Muslim marriage is only a contract, because there is no religious ritual while performing rituals at the time of marriage. There is no need of.
Before the advent of Islam, there was a practice of unlimited polyandry. As a gradual reform under Islam, polyandry was reduced to four wives.
Before Islam in Arabia, female lust was considered an object of gratification and the property of the husband. Islam for the first time gave women the right to consent in marriage. At that time strange marriages were prevalent in the society. The Prophet has removed many kurtis of Arab society and made women consent necessary for marriage.
Nature of muslim marriage
There are different views regarding the nature of Muslim marriage. According to some jurists, Muslim marriage is purely a civil contract, while others have described the marriage as having the nature of a religious sacrament.
In marriage, there is a proposal like a contract, it is accepted and its reward can be considered as ‘Mehr’ which is given by the man to the woman. By its very nature it is known that this marriage is a civil contract which can be terminated at any time through divorce.
There is an important case in this case known as Abdul Qadir Vs Salima. This is a 1946 case, in which Judge Mahmud and Judge Mittar in Sabrunnannisha’s case held Muslim marriage as a contractual obligation.
In the case of Anisha Begum v. Mohammad Mustafa, Chief Justice Shah Suleiman took a balanced approach and termed Muslim marriage as a civil contract as well as a religious sacrament.
Quran Sharif It is known from various hadiths that Muslim marriage cannot be considered a mere contract, because even though it is not necessary to marry in Islam, the Prophet has laid more emphasis on marriage and has given the message to Muslims that Get married immediately after attaining majority so that thought can be avoided.
But in Islam, if a person is not able to marry, then he is also prevented from getting married. Today there is also a Muslim marriage contract and sacrament and this sacrament is only for eligible Muslims. This marriage is a wonderful combination of contract and rites.
In a Muslim marriage, the existence of a woman remains intact. According to Muslim law, a woman does not merge her existence with that of her husband by marriage. She maintains her separate legal status even after marriage. It doesn’t change anything.
Essentials for muslim marriage
At the time of solemnization of a Muslim marriage, there is no legal requirement of any kind of religious ritual.
The presence of Qazi is also not necessary at the time of marriage. (Nikah) For Muslim marriage certain conditions have been enshrined for valid marriage. If those conditions are not followed, the Muslim marriage becomes void. There are some conditions, the non-compliance of which makes the marriage irregular but not void.
offer and acceptance
Like other contracts, there are proposals and acceptances in marriage as well. It is necessary that one party to the marriage proposes to marry the other party.
The marriage is complete only when the other party accepts the proposal. Thus it can be concluded that the condition of Muslim marriage is the same as that of any other contract.
Presence
The words expressing offer and acceptance should be uttered in the presence of both the parties or their agent (known as lawyer or in common practice the marriage father) in such a way that both the parties can hear each other’s statement. All this should happen in only one sitting, in no two other sittings the nikah takes place.
There is no need of any Qazi in such presence and offer. Only the offer and its acceptance matter.
Witness
Under Sunni Hanafi law, the proposal and acceptance must be in the presence of two witnesses, one male and two female witnesses who are of sound mind and adult Muslims.
In the absence of a witness, the marriage is not void, but it does become irregular, that is, a marriage in which the witness can be brought back to normalize the marriage. In Shia law, marriage is considered valid even without evidence.
free will and consent
The parties to a marriage must marry on their own free will and consent. Their consent must also be free from fear, undue coercion or deceit. If the parties to the marriage are of sound mind and adult, then it is necessary to give consent by them themselves.
Muslim law had different rules for adulthood, but the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act in India has fixed the age of marriage at 21 years for men and 18 years for women.
lack the ability
In addition to adulthood, sound mind and free consent, there are certain qualifications for a Muslim to marry. There are certain conditions that there should be no law incompetence and impediment to the coincidence.
Legal incapacity means that the parties are not related within a prohibited relationship or in a manner that renders the marriage void. There are four types of this prohibition which are given below-
1) Blood relation or ‘Qarabat’-
There are some such relations, by which inter-related women and men cannot be married to each other. This is a forbidden kinship of Muslim marriage.
It is related to blood.
your mother or grandmother
your daughter or son
Whether your sister is real or sister or Ekodara
brother’s son or daughter
Sisters of your own or your father’s or mother’s and grandparents’
2) matrimonial or ‘musharat’
These relationships are born through marriage, they are not related by blood.
wife’s mother or grandmother
wife’s son or daughter
husband’s mother’s husband
son grandson or grandson
3) Doodh Rishta or ‘Riza’
When a child below the age of 2 years has consumed the milk of a woman other than its mother, a milk relationship arises between the infant and that woman.
The woman is considered to be the mother of that child. The relation of milk is those who have drank milk from the same woman’s chest. Milk relatives are not born to the same parents, yet they are considered blood relatives for the purpose of marriage. A person cannot marry not only his real sister but also a sister of milk relation.
4) In addition to these causes, there are some other incapacity, some of which are factors which hinder only so long as those causes exist. As soon as the causes cease to exist, they do not create incapacity, some of them are as follows-
Illegal coincidence-
It means to marry two women related to each other at the same time in such a way that if one of them was a man, the marriage between them would be illegal.
For example, the marriage of two sisters together is done to avoid the taboo mode of kinship. Therefore a Muslim cannot marry his sister during the lifetime of his wife. This barrier can be removed by divorce or death of the first wife.
polygamous-
A man cannot have more than 4 wives at a time. Marriage with the fifth wife shall be regular when one of the wives is divorced or dies. Before Islam, a man could marry any number of women, but the Prophet limited the status of marriage to four wives and described one wife marriage as the ideal marriage.
It is clearly mentioned in Quran Sharif that only one wife marriage is being described as the best marriage-
‘Marry two or three women who you find beautiful but you are afraid that you cannot do justice to them, then do only one’
In the Qur’an more emphasis has been laid on one marriage because it is a question of justice, but more than one marriage has not been stopped but it has been emphasized that marriage should be done with only one woman.
Absence of witnesses
Sunni law requires that at least two witnesses be present at the time of marriage to prove that the parties have entered into a valid marriage.
Properly solemnized but even if there is no witness, a Muslim marriage can be performed and later witnesses can be made. Shia law recognizes Muslim marriage even without evidence.
Religious differences-
Muslim marriage is only between 2 Muslims but Muslim man has been given freedom to marry a Jewish and Christian woman like Ahle Kitab or the like and this marriage will be valid, but here Muslim law does injustice to women and Muslim women Prohibits the marriage of Christian and Jewish men. If a Muslim woman marries a Jewish or Christian man and later that man becomes a Muslim, then the marriage will become regular.
Marriage by another’s wife or by a married woman to another man-
Muslim marriage is not solemnized under the condition that the woman is the wife of someone else.
In some other circumstances also marriage cannot take place-
marry a pregnant woman
After giving divorce, re-marriage in the same parties.
Marriage on Hajj.
Marriage on Haj pilgrimage is said to be valid in Sunni Hanafi law
