NIKKAH NAMA
INTRODUCTION:
Nikah is an Arabic term which is used in Quran and refers to marriage contract.
It is a term which is used for validating the union of two Sexes and their
relationship. Under Muslim law Marriage is purely a civil contract between
husband and wife. Nikkah nama in Islam is viewed as an important and sacred
union between a man and woman that fulfils half of one’s religious obligations.
A well-known passage in the Quran discusses marriage as follows: “Among His
signs is that He created for you spouses from yourselves so that you might find
repose with them. And He has placed between you affection and mercy. In that
there are certainly signs for people who reflect.”
Nikkah Islam is often referred to in a poetic manner describing the love and
mutual rights that exist between men and women.Islam puts a strong
emphasis on mutual love and respect between a husband and wife.Men are
also specifically commanded to treat their wives with kindness and respect.
The Prophet Muhammad is reported to have said: "The most perfect in faith
amongst believers is he who is best in manners and kindest to his wife." Nikkah
is also viewed as an act of worship to God (Allah). Islam views emotional and
sexual expression between a husband and wife as a form of worship.Sexual
relations are not solely for procreation but are viewed as a way for a couple to
connect, strengthen their relationship, and help relieve everyday stresses. As a
result, celibacy is forbidden for men or women even if either happens to be an
Islamic scholar or religious leader .
ESSENTIAL OF A VALID MARRIAGE (NIKKAH) :
Proposal & Acceptance
In a Muslim marriage, Proposal means ‘ijab’ & Acceptance of the same is
‘qubul’. A proposal should be done by or on behalf of one party and the same
offer should be accepted by other party. Like we see for a valid contract, Offer
and Acceptance is must. It is the starting point of a contract. Same applies in
Muslim marriage as it is also a Civil contract so proposal and acceptance should
happen to initiate a contact (marriage). It is also important that when the offer
is made and when the acceptance is done. Because offer and acceptance
should be done out at the same meeting. If proposal is made at first meeting
and acceptance is done in another meeting, then it can’t be considered as a
valid offer and acceptance.
Competency of Parties:
a) Major
For a valid Muslim Marriage, both the parties must attain the age of puberty
i.e., 09 years of age for girl & 12 years of age for a boy. . After attaining the
minimum age, the parties can give their own consent, even there is no need of
consent from guardians.If the parties are minor i.e not attained the age of
puberty, then the consent of lawful guardian is must for making marriage
lawful.
b) Soundness of Mind
At the time of Marriage, both boy & girl should be of sound mind. They cannot
be insane or mentally ill. Person of unsound mind cannot enter a contract,
his/her consent is considered as no consent.
Unsoundness is of two types:
idiocy: In this state of mind, the person is fully insane. It means the
complete abnormal state of mind. This type of people cannot enter a
contract.
Lunacy: It means a curable mental disease. This type of persons is in
their sound mind in some interval. So, they can enter a contract only in
those intervals.
c) Muslim
Both the parties must be Muslim. If one is Muslim & another is from any other
religion then that marriage cannot be happened in Muslim law, then it comes
to Special Marriage Act. Also, it does not matter that the parties belonged to
which cast, sect or sub-sect of Muslims. Inter sect or sub-sect marriage is also
valid in Muslim law.
d) Free Consent
Free consent of both boy & girl is must for a valid Muslim marriage. Free
consent means the consent should not be obtained from Coercion, Fraud or
Mistake of Fact. If consent is obtained from all these things, then the contract
is invalid. A marriage is invalid if it is held without free consent of the parties.
e) Dower
It is also known as ‘mahr’. It is the amount of money which the bridegrooms
must give to the bride as a consideration of marriage. It is same as the
consideration in a valid contract. Like without consideration the contract is
invalid, same as without consideration the Muslim marriage is invalid. Right to
Mahr comes into existence before cohabitation. If wife is a minor, her
guardians can refuse to send to her husband until payment of dower.
NATURE AND PURPOSE OF NIKKAH:
Most Muslims believe marriage is a fundamental building block of life.
Marriage is a contract between a man and woman to live together as husband
and wife. The marriage contract is called a nikah.
For most Muslims the purpose of marriage is to:
keep faithful to each other for the rest of their lives
have children and bring them up in the Muslim faith
Marriage is mentioned many times in the Qur'an, which Muslims believe is the
word of God, as revealed to the Prophet Muhammad, and therefore, they
follow its teachings on marriage,
“And among His signs is this, that He created for you mates from among
yourselves, that you may dwell in peace and tranquility with them, and He has
put love and mercy between your (hearts).”
CONCEPT OF DOWER :
Dower is a mandatory requisite of a valid Muslim marriage. It is a sum payable
by the husband to the wife upon contracting marriage. It often gets referred to
as consideration of marriage. It is a mandatory obligation and the law
applicable in Pakistan requires it to be fixed at the time of marriage.. Even if it
is not fixed at the time of marriage and no specified amount of money or any
other property is mentioned in the Nikah Nama, the woman’s right to claim
dower will remain unaffected due to the existence of the marriage contract.
. If the parties are not in agreement then the wife can go to court and have the
court fix an amount taking in account factors like social standing and the
husband’s salary etc.An amount not being fixed at the time of nikah is not a
bar to her being able to claim the right.The first column pertaining to mahar in
the Nikah Nama uses the word cash but dower does not have to be restricted
to cash only and can include both moveable and immoveable property. The
four columns provided for the recording of dower clearly allow for it to be
recorded as cash and/or property of any kind that has been agreed upon.
Dower can be fixed later but if the husband does not do it the wife can get it
fixed from the court and claim it. With regard to its payment, dower can be
divided into prompt and deferred dower. The prompt part of the dower has to
be paid immediately and a time period can be agreed upon with regard to
deferred dower or alternatively it can be made payable upon the wife’s
demand. Where the payment of the deferred dower is made contingent upon
the wife’s request, the mahar is known as indul-talab..
CONCEPT OF DOWERY IN ISLAM:
Islam has no concept of giving Dowry, but still in several Muslims customs this
tradition seems to be increased. Particularly in regions like Pakistan, India and
Bangladesh. In actual fact, the custom of giving dowry has never been
legitimated by Islam and is not widely spread in Muslims of other ethnicity. It
appears to be the replication of previous Hindu custom in which daughters
have no share in the property of family but were given expenditures that could
be in the form of households. On the contrary the daughter in Islam has a full
right in their family property and inheritance.
Dowry is mostly given in the form of cash, goods or belongings by the bride’s
family to the bride in order to catch the attention of her in-laws and her
husband and moreover after marring would become the property of him or his
family, which is not practiced in Islam and is against the principals of Islam. In
Islam, it is not allowed that a woman is owed by a family or is traded in such a
way.
Before Islam, this concept was considered as the property of girl’s custodian.
The concept of presenting bride gifts of cash or property or spending a lot on
grand wedding feast, or presenting a house, or giving furniture for their house
and household possessions are absent to the discretion of the people involved
in Islam.
SECTIONS DETAILS
includes basic information such as name, date
Sections 1 to 5
of birth address, etc.
asks for the bride’s age, something very
Section 6 important in a country like Pakistan where child
marriages are rampant.
include information about witnesses from both,
Sections 7 to 12
the bride and the groom’s side
include information about Mehr.
The Mehr is an obligatory gift given by the
Sections 13 to 16 groom to the bride in consideration of their
marriage. The Mehr is every woman’s unsaid
right and is supposed to help her financially in
situations for example death, divorce, etc
is the second most important clause in the
entire Nikah Namaa, after the bride’s right to
Section 17 divorce. This section asks for any and all
conditions that the bride and groom deem
necessary for a successful marriage
the most important clauses of the entire
document. (Often struck out by our local
Sections 18 and 19
maulvis and apprehensive elders in the family),
is the girl’s legal right to file for divorce.
states the groom’s financial standing in terms of
Section 20
documents etc
is important for verifying the groom’s marital
status. This is where the groom must state that
Section 21
he has his first wife’s permission for second
marriage if that’s the case.
include signatures of both the bride and the
Sections 22 to 25
groom alongside their witnesses’ signatures.
