Is Your Nikah Actually Valid?

Many Muslims know how to plan a wedding. Far fewer know how to protect themselves in a nikah.

This episode is the start of a new series we’re doing on nikahs and all the conversations Muslims in the West really should be having before marriage.

Today we break down the actual requirements of a valid Islamic marriage contract without turning it into a dry fiqh class. We talk about the things couples rush through, avoid, or assume are “just details” until problems show up later. From pressured consent to secret nikahs, unclear mahr agreements, absent walis, and the confusion around civil marriage in the West, this conversation gets into the realities modern Muslims are actually dealing with.

We put together this short checklist to help you think through the conversations and details couples often overlook until later. Click here to download the PDF and go through it before your nikah, not after problems begin. 

If something we said made you think, laugh, or feel seen, leave us a rating and review! It helps more people find the show. And hey, if you know someone who needs to hear this episode, send it their way. Sharing is caring!

Transcript

Welcome And Recording Realities

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Assalamu alaikum. I'm Hibah.

SPEAKER_00 0:02

And I'm Zayd.

SPEAKER_02 0:02

You're listening to Diary of a Matchmaker.

SPEAKER_00 0:05

A podcast that will take you into our world as matchmakers.

SPEAKER_02 0:08

We'll share our experiences and offer advice for the single Muslim.

SPEAKER_00 0:12

So let's dive in. Bismach. Assalamu alaikum. Welcome back to another episode of Diary of a Matchmaker. Assalamu alaikum. Finally, Alhamdulillah, we are able to start recording. It has not been an easy week. No. We'd like to release an episode every Friday morning.

SPEAKER_02 0:32

Every two Fridays.

SPEAKER_00 0:33

Every sorry. Every other Friday. But with the child, it's it's different. You work around their schedule, not the other way around. And the only reason we're able to record right now is because Alhamdulillah, my mom was able to watch her. Actually, it's Mother's Day, so she wanted some alone time with her.

SPEAKER_02 0:50

Yeah, it's it's amazing how we have an ideal plan. Yeah, we're gonna do this, and after that, we're gonna do that, and at five o'clock we're gonna be here, and then just it's all according to hers.

Why Nikah Validity Matters

SPEAKER_00 1:01

Yeah, yeah, we're always at her service. Yes. So this topic I feel like we should have done a long time ago. Um, but I I feel like I say that a lot.

SPEAKER_02 1:09

Yeah, you say that about every episode.

SPEAKER_00 1:11

Yes, but um what uh I mean at the end of the day we talk about marriage, and we can't talk about marriage w without talking about the importance and value of niqah contracts themselves. Yeah. So this uh episode, inshallah, will be the beginning of many more um uh series of episodes that will talk uh more about niqah contracts and um the the parts of a niqah contract, what goes into that, but today specifically we're just gonna talk about the validity of a niqah contract.

SPEAKER_02 1:39

Yeah. Would you say the average Muslim knows what makes a niqah contract valid?

SPEAKER_00 1:45

No. And we learned that through our workshops, if you recall. Because we have that one slide, remember? Yeah. Um I can't remember the exact question on the slide, but it goes something along the lines of is a Walima.

SPEAKER_02 1:57

No, which of the following is not a condition for a valid nika?

SPEAKER_00 2:01

Yes. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 2:02

And one of them was Walima.

SPEAKER_00 2:04

Walima, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:05

And most people know which one of them is a condition for a validnika? And most of them chose Walimah.

SPEAKER_00 2:12

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 2:13

Yeah, it was something like something like that, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:15

Which is fine. I mean, I honestly did not know the five conditions of a nikah prior to getting marriage. Married. Uh, despite the fact that I've been to so many niqahs, but it's something that you kind of just defer to scholars to, and you just really respect their wisdom and their knowledge and just hope that they're doing it the right way.

SPEAKER_02 2:31

Yeah, I guess. But so guys, we're not gonna be doing uh fikhhadars or anything. This is just a conversation about um things that when you get married you need to be aware of.

SPEAKER_00 2:42

Right, a very basic understanding as a Muslim that you should have, um, especially if you're about to get married.

SPEAKER_02 2:47

And we'll discuss, inshaAllah, modern scenarios, especially for Muslims living in the West.

Five Requirements For A Valid Nikah

SPEAKER_00 2:52

So let's set the foundation. What are the five requirements of a Valinika? Number one.

SPEAKER_02 2:59

Number one is the people who are getting married.

SPEAKER_00 3:01

Right. So bride and groom. Yeah. So if any modern-day Muslim, progressive Muslim, tries to come up to you and says, Well, it doesn't say in the anywhere in the Quran or in the Sunnah that uh two guys cannot get married or two women cannot get married, well, you can easily say that one of the requirements of a Valinika is that the couple must be heterosexual.

SPEAKER_02 3:24

Okay, then somebody could say, What if one of them had a sex change?

SPEAKER_00 3:28

Okay, then contact uh Imam Suhe Web or Sheikh Omar or Sheikh or somebody else with years of experience. I'm just joking. And they can deal with that question, but I'm not qualified to go that far.

SPEAKER_02 3:41

Yeah, so let's assume we're talking about man and a woman. Yes. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:45

So it's fair to assume that a valunica must be between a heterosexual couple. Yeah. That's number one. And by the way, this is not order of importance unless there is an order of importance.

SPEAKER_02 3:56

No, so like you said, these are requirements, they're not conditions. Right. So if one of them is missing, this is not a valid cut.

Proposal Acceptance Must Be Spoken

SPEAKER_00 4:03

I mean to say that one is not more important than the other. No, okay. They're all important. Yeah. Uh number two, proposal and acceptance. So you see this in Western movies all the time, where the bride and the and the groom are standing at the altar, and uh the priest is saying, Do you take this woman to be as your lawfully wedded wife? And you say, I do. So in Islam we do have something similar, um, but different at the same time. I'll I'll let you elaborate.

SPEAKER_02 4:30

Yeah, so in our case, um it doesn't have to be like uh a scholar or an imam conducting it, like in Christianity, it has to be a priest. Anyone who has the knowledge of what makes a niqah valid can officiate.

SPEAKER_00 4:44

That's why it is preferred that you get a scholar or somebody who understands the basic um Islamic sciences and understanding of what makes a valid niqah value. Yeah, yeah. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 4:54

But the the thing to mention about uh proposal and acceptance, it has to be there. It has to be formal proposal and acceptance. It can't be just like, oh, we have articulated. It has to be articulated and said out loud. It can't be just we have this understanding, we already have like guests here, and we have the cake, so it's assumed that okay, now we're married. Like it has to be said, people have to hear it. Now, what do you think? Do you think the person proposing should be the man or the woman? So start starting with the man or the woman?

SPEAKER_00 5:27

So the chivalrous thing is for the man to propose, but as far as I know, there is no requirement on one side proposing versus the other.

SPEAKER_02 5:37

So that's interesting what you said, because I think what you what you're thinking about right now is that image we see in movies with the man on his knees and proposing.

SPEAKER_00 5:47

Yes and no, but in general, I think it's the guy that should be not necessarily on one knee, but it's the guy that should be humbling himself and saying, you know, would you marry me or something like that, right?

SPEAKER_02 5:58

So you'll be surprised to know that in most cases it's the woman's side, the woman's wali who proposes.

SPEAKER_00 6:04

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 6:05

Yeah. It doesn't really make a difference who initiates, who makes the proposal, who accepts. But in most cases, it's the bride's wali who extends the proposal.

SPEAKER_00 6:16

Now, is that a cultural thing?

SPEAKER_02 6:17

I don't know. I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 6:19

What in art of culture would you typically see?

SPEAKER_02 6:21

Uh no, actually, even in our niqah. It was so in our example, uh in our story, for example, we had uh niqah where my father, my wali, was um in Palestine and I was with your family in Chicago. So the uh Imam or the scholar, which happened to be your friend, he became the proxy wali. My father gave him like transferred his wilaya to your friend to act on my behalf.

SPEAKER_00 6:50

Just to be clear, your father was on the Zoom call. Yes, yes. So he was virtually present.

SPEAKER_02 6:54

Yes, yes, yeah. So in our case, it was my side that proposed. In most cases, that's what happens, and you accepted.

SPEAKER_00 7:03

Now that I think about the marriages that I've attended, I believe they all go like that. Yeah. So it usually happens at the masjid, um, the girls uh are on the girl side, the guys are on the guy's side, and the fat the father of the girl is sitting next to the father of the groom, and um and the father of the bride proposes. And then the uh what is it, the groom says uh kabiltu, I accept. Exactly.

SPEAKER_02 7:31

From a sharia wise, uh both can work. Right. Yeah, this is just what's common for some reason.

SPEAKER_00 7:37

So just so you guys know, there's no requirement that the guy has to propose or the girl has to propose.

SPEAKER_02 7:41

Somebody has to propose, somebody has to accept.

SPEAKER_00 7:44

Exactly.

SPEAKER_02 7:44

And uh it has to be articulated, and it has to be uh the like there shouldn't be um a long period of time of waiting be between the proposal and acceptance. Like for example, the proposal the acceptance can happen three days after the proposal.

SPEAKER_00 8:01

Cannot.

SPEAKER_02 8:02

Cannot. Right. Yeah, so there has to be ejaz, like um closeness in time.

SPEAKER_00 8:08

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 8:08

Yeah, between proposal and acceptance.

SPEAKER_00 8:11

Okay, yeah like a reasonable closeness.

SPEAKER_02 8:13

Uh yeah, okay, like within the same setting.

SPEAKER_00 8:16

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 8:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:17

Okay, fair enough. Now I feel like I'm jumping ahead because and the reason I'm saying this is because I've seen this scenario played out a few times where they also, along with the acceptance, they say the maher amount, which is which I don't like. Oh, to be said out loud. Now I feel like that's a cultural thing. Um, but we'll get into them once we talk about my hair.

SPEAKER_01 8:38

Okay.

Mahr Is A Required Debt

SPEAKER_00 8:38

Okay. So we talked about number one, bride and groom, we talked about proposal and acceptance, and three, mahir. So what is my hair? Just to kind of set the foundation, what is my hair?

SPEAKER_02 8:50

It's uh it's a gift to show um respect and gratitude to the uh woman, and uh just to show that like you appreciate the fact that this father gave you his daughter as an amana. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 9:05

Okay, so the amana meaning trust. Trust, exactly.

SPEAKER_02 9:08

The father entrusted you with his honor, with his uh daughter. So for the wife, for the woman, it's a gift. For the man, it's a fard. It's uh it's a requirement. It's a requirement, it's not like uh uh out of his own generosity, no. Uh uh marriage, a nikah without uh mahar is not a valid nikah. And the mahar has to be quantitative.

SPEAKER_00 9:31

Yes, we dedicated an entire episode to mahar.

SPEAKER_02 9:33

We dedicated, yeah. You can I think we called it um this was my mahar, where where we actually shared what was my mahar. Yes. Uh, but so I'm not gonna tell you, I'm just gonna point you to that episode. Go listen to it. Uh, but uh it can't be something as in I give you my love as a maher, I give you my unconditional loyalty as a maher.

SPEAKER_00 9:57

Right. Like even in I don't know if it's part of our Sunnah or part of Arab tradition, but there's a phrase called Maher Mitr, right?

SPEAKER_02 10:04

Like the customary customary mahr. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:07

So you can't like say I'm gonna like teach you Surah Klas and say like even though that was done under extreme circumstances during the Prophet's time, you have to look at what the custom is, what the circumstances are, and be accommodating to that.

SPEAKER_02 10:20

Yeah. Right. So exactly. So it has to be something of uh material value.

SPEAKER_00 10:26

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 10:26

Okay. There's no minimum for a mahar. There is no maximum for a mahar. But like you said, um the rule of thumb is that it's a custom amount. Okay. Okay. So the mahir could be mukaddam, which is which means it's paid upfront, or it could be muakhar, which is uh delayed. And this is a customary thing. And what most people do is they just put mm-I don't know, symbolic amount as a mukaddam, which is like one dollar, ten dollars or something. And it's not a problem. No, it's not a problem. Okay. And uh delayed mahir is like the real big amount. Okay. And this is just to make it easier for the couple to get married. Like maybe at this moment he doesn't have twenty thousand dollars, but later he will have. Now, what is a misconception that people have, and I think this is more with Arabs, I don't know about you, Daisy, that when when the agreement is that the the mahir is delayed, they think that they don't have to pay it unless divorce happens. So most Arab men end up not paying the actual mahir.

SPEAKER_00 11:27

Or um is the the time frame actually set in stone, or can they just say, Oh, I'll do it whenever, maybe in 20, 30 years, maybe after we have grandchildren, then like maybe I'll have enough money in my retirement to pay it.

SPEAKER_02 11:39

It could be set in stones, or it could be like any agreement that the bride and groom have. So uh, for example, they could agree that uh every month he will pay her a thousand dollars until he paid the entire mahair off. Or it could be that I don't know after five years he will start paying her. Whatever they both agree on. It shouldn't be pushed. Okay, but it should be paid.

SPEAKER_00 12:03

Right, so just as a reminder, it is a debt. It is a debt, and if divorce happens, then that has to be paid prior to divorce.

SPEAKER_02 12:10

So it's a debt regardless of what happens, whether divorce and if a man dies and he hasn't paid his mahir yet, then before his uh inheritance is divided, because mahir is a debt, it has to be paid first, along along uh his other debts, if he had has other debts, and then the inheritance will be divided. So men put it in your head.

SPEAKER_00 12:33

It's a very serious matter.

SPEAKER_02 12:34

It's a serious matter. Another thing some people do is like, yeah, yeah, we'll pay it later, it's delayed and stuff, and then the man, after they actually lived together and all of that, starts like emotionally manipulating his wife to just forgive the the the maher. Come on, honey. We have a child now. You really want me to pay you, like, you know, and he's emotionally manipulating her. Don't do that.

SPEAKER_00 12:59

Yeah, that's pretty messed up.

SPEAKER_02 13:01

Yeah, that's messed up.

Wali Protects Not Possesses

SPEAKER_00 13:02

Okay. Um, alright, number four, the requirement is wali. Now, I I learned something new when uh when we were talking about wali and as we were preparing for this episode. Yeah. That according to one madhab, uh the wali is not required.

SPEAKER_02 13:19

Yes. So according to Hashabi.

SPEAKER_00 13:21

And what we said, we didn't wouldn't go into fiqhly stuff, but this is very interesting and it is worth mentioning.

SPEAKER_02 13:25

Of course. Right. So so what is a wali first? Wali is a guardian, uh, the guardian for the girl, which has the power to protect and not possess.

SPEAKER_01 13:34

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 13:35

That's what the purpose of a wali is. Yes. So if a wali is hindering his daughter from getting married, she's getting good proposals, good Muslim men. He's declining just because the man is reasons. The man isn't from the same town, the the man is from a different ethnicity, or he's not a doctor, then that's he's doing dulm to the girl. And a girl in this case has the power to remove uh her father's wilaya and grant it to someone else, another.

SPEAKER_00 14:07

We dedicated a full episode about this. Exactly.

SPEAKER_02 14:10

Yeah, if I'm not mistaken, it's called Can a Father's Wilaya be removed or something like that. Something like that. We're not gonna talk about it right now, it's a lengthy topic. But yeah, that's the role of a wali to protect, to investigate about this man, make sure he's uh he is of a good character, that he's uh he's fit to be a husband for his daughter, right? Right. Um now according to Hanafiz, Wali is not a condition, but and it's a big but they give power to the wali for him after the nickname, let's say the daughter got married without his will without his presence or something. If the father later sees that this man is not a good fit, he has the power to annul the wedding, annul the marriage. So in somehow they give enough power to the wali to fulfil his role, but not initially. It's just easier, it's just better to go with the agreement amongst uh the scholars, which is to have the wali.

SPEAKER_00 15:14

Right, and it just makes more sense for the wali to be involved prior than after.

SPEAKER_02 15:21

Of course.

SPEAKER_00 15:21

Right? Of course. Why go through the mess of an annulment and especially when there is especially if there could be consummation, it could raise a whole series of other questions and issues. Exactly.

SPEAKER_02 15:34

And uh and honestly, like men, they get less emotionally attached than us girls. So you as a girl, you might find this guy to be your charming prince, but then your father or your brother might see something in him that you don't see because you're already emotionally attached. So just why create that mess, like you said? Just from the beginning, go with the valley.

Witnesses Virtual Attendance And Publicity

SPEAKER_00 15:59

Yeah, fair enough. Okay, last but not least, uh requirement number five is witnesses. And now I don't like I said, I keep saying I don't want to go into the fitly stuff, but like my mind keeps going into that area, which is there's a difference of opinion as to how many witnesses suffice. So I'll I'll let you answer those kind of great questions.

SPEAKER_02 16:19

So uh there's really no need to go into these like uh scholarly disagreements. Okay. Two men uh as witnesses is what it is what it's required. Okay. They should be, of course, adults, not a child, yeah. Uh sane, uh they understand what they're witnessing. Right. Yeah, and um that's pretty much it. Can can the witnesses witness virtually? Yeah, yeah, of course, yeah. Yeah, can the Wally attend virtually in our case. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:54

Um, so I want to go off on I shouldn't, but it's just kind of nagging me. Why is a woman witnessing considered half then instead of one?

SPEAKER_02 17:06

So there is a disagreement between uh scholars because that ayah Because I remember that came up when uh I thought about my mom being a witness for the other.

SPEAKER_00 17:14

Oh, I remember as well. Yeah. So what's the ayah?

SPEAKER_02 17:16

Uh it's so it's ayatid, the ayah of death in Surah Baqarah. Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_00 17:21

And that creates the longest ayah in the Quran.

SPEAKER_02 17:23

The longest ayah in the Quran, full page. And that creates a disagreement between scholars as an is this a condition, like does this apply when we're talking about any kind of testimony, or is it just in financial matters? Because the the the ayah is talking about witnesses and under the umbrella of financial matters and debt.

SPEAKER_00 17:42

But even under financial matters, why is her testimony considered half?

SPEAKER_02 17:47

What most scholars say is that men usually are more attentive and remember details better when it comes to financial matters.

SPEAKER_01 17:56

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 17:56

Because as a non-Muslim, I could easily look at this and say, your religion is sexist and it treats women in inferior way.

SPEAKER_02 18:02

Believe me, believe me, people who wanna poke holes in Islam, they will find anything. Even something like La ilaha illallah, like anything. Right. Yeah, yeah. And other scholars say that no, this applies to financial matters and other matters. Um, so honestly, just to be on the safe side and just like to not have the headache of thinking and analyzing and go with disagreements, just have two male witnesses, they could be the brothers, uh, relatives of the man, relatives of the woman, the father, the woman's father might be a witness. In our case, it was uh both your brothers, right?

SPEAKER_00 18:43

Right. Yeah. Now, another question doesn't, if the witness is on the groom side, isn't there a conflict of interest kind of situation happening there because that's the brothers, that's the those are the brothers of the groom.

SPEAKER_02 18:59

The assumption is that we are dealing with uh Muslim people, Muslim men who wouldn't lie. Like, what are the chances that both Muslim, adult men of a good character are lying about matters of marriage and honor, right?

SPEAKER_00 19:18

To protect his brother that's getting married.

SPEAKER_02 19:20

But there's also an un like announcement, people have witnessed that, have seen this. It's known in the community, it's known in the community that these people are married. That's why it's better to announce them a marriage and not keep it a secret. So there is a difference between privacy and secrecy.

SPEAKER_01 19:40

Right, right.

SPEAKER_02 19:41

Yeah. So we all want to keep our private uh our matters private. You're not sharing amongst the guests, I don't know, private parts of your marriage and all of that. How we got to know each other, and how was the first time we met, and what kind of gifts he got me, what kind of g those these are private matters. Right. But a secret marriage is not a recipe for a successful marriage.

SPEAKER_00 20:06

Of course not.

Consent And Family Pressure

SPEAKER_02 20:06

Yeah. Hey, if you have a story to tell, we'd love to have you on. Here you'll find a safe space of listeners who can understand what you're going through. Just shoot us an email with a summary of your story at info at halalmaj.ca. So what we just shared are five requirements for a valid nikah from a technical point of view, right? But there are things that contribute or takes away from the validity of a niqah, but not from a technical point of view. So maybe a nikah on paper could be valid, but in the spirit of the law of the sharia, they are not valid. Just like the law of the land of any country, there is the spirit of the law and there is the letter of the law. So, what are some things that should be in the nikah contract? One of them is consent.

SPEAKER_01 20:55

Right.

SPEAKER_02 20:56

Consent. Today, like I don't know if there are any more forced marriages. We've seen some, maybe in some communities, but there are other forms to be considered, other things to be considered when we're talking about consent. There is emotional pressure.

SPEAKER_01 21:11

Right.

SPEAKER_02 21:11

Uh family could be pressuring the daughter to marry this specific guy because she's getting older. Right. Because he has so much money. He's a successful hole already. We booked the hole already. He's a successful uh doctor. Uh, what are we gonna tell people? We already sent out invitations, this will make us look bad. So there's all these emotional uh forms of pressure that could actually impact the consent.

SPEAKER_00 21:39

Right. So in those situations, and this is go this goes back to the point I was making before. That's why, even though it's not a requirement to have a scholar or an imam conduct the wedding, it's it's good to have that because in this situation, like you're talking about, they can do the research and investigate, and take each um person, the bride and the groom, separately and say, hey. Were you pressured into this? Hey, are you doing this on your own accord? And just do all the necessary work and research, right? Yeah. Yeah. So yeah. Going back to my point, always better to have a scholar uh conduct these situations. Yeah, the ceremonies.

SPEAKER_02 22:13

Same thing with the maher. Is the maher actually what the bride and groom wanted? Or are her parents pressuring her to ask for a lot of money? Or maybe he, the groom, is just emotionally pressuring her. Oh, if you love me, you will say yes to five dollars. Or okay, maybe five dollars is just like exaggeration. But something like that. So everything has to be to come out of from one's own will. And no form of pressure should be there. Whether we're talking about the mahar, whether we're talking about conditions that go in the marriage contract, which we're gonna cover in other episodes, conditions that could go in the marriage contract, conditions that can't make it to the marriage contract. So any type of pressure that takes away from the validity of the niqah, maybe not from a technical aspect, but from the the spirit of it.

SPEAKER_00 23:05

Right. So the point being is that some nikas can happen with verbal consent, but not with the spirit of consent, right?

SPEAKER_02 23:12

Yeah. And as matchmakers, we've come across, if I remember, two cases of forced marriages. And I'm talking about forced marriages, not arranged. No, no, no, no. Where their parents forced two uh two young girls, they were forced to marry and both got divorced.

Documentation Civil Marriage And Prenups

SPEAKER_00 23:30

Yes, yes, yes. I do recall some of those situations. So one of the big questions that comes up is how do I balance the expectations and requirements of an Islamic marriage versus the expectations of a civil marriage, right? Given that we obviously live in the US, UK, Canada. It's much easier when you're in the Middle East, you you have Sharia law and then it's all taken care of, right? Yeah. But um here in the West, everything has to be documented. And I'm assuming there wasn't documentation during the Prophet's time. Right? Okay. So how do we kind of handle that?

SPEAKER_02 24:05

So these are two separate matters that you mixed here, which is documentation and civil marriage.

SPEAKER_00 24:11

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 24:11

So they're separate. If we're talking about documentation, which applies to the West and the Middle East and any Muslim country, documentation is something modern. Now, was there documentation back then? There wasn't, like when we're talking about the time when the Quran came down, time of the Prophet, Sahaba, there wasn't documentation. What used to happen.

SPEAKER_00 24:33

Most people weren't even literate back then.

SPEAKER_02 24:35

It's not even about that. What used to happen is the Nikah would happen, it'll be announced in the community, they will have a walimah, they'll and the community will know that these two people are married. There was no documentation. Documentation happened later when the country, the Muslim country, became like much larger than it used to be. Cases of, I don't know, divorce or fraud or all of that sort uh started coming up, then documentation happened. It's a modern, it's an innovation, it's a good innovation. It's a good bida.

SPEAKER_00 25:06

Right now, marriage certificate, death certificate, things like that.

SPEAKER_02 25:08

Exactly. Now, is it uh from a sharia perspective, it's not a requirement. So if you don't document it uh with the government, your niqah has valid. Like you're not committing zina or anything, as tafrullah. Your niqah has valid, your children are sharia, like everything is is good, right? Yeah, but you would be setting your up for many problems, especially I'm talking about the woman with no documentation. It's easy to deny, especially if we're talking about the West. It's easy to deny that she's my wife, these are my children.

SPEAKER_00 25:44

She won't be getting her rights.

SPEAKER_02 25:45

She exactly in the case of uh divorce, in the case of death, inheritance, taxes, um what else? Like many financial things in the case of I don't know, alimony, all of that, it's gonna complicate things very much. Even if we're talking about a Muslim country, if it's not documented, basically you're not married. Like to the government, you're not married, right?

SPEAKER_00 26:09

Right, right. That's number one. In the event of a death, even in an Islamic country, there could be complications in inheritance because there's no documentation.

SPEAKER_02 26:17

And also the lineage. Your children want to be registered under his name, or like it'll create many, many, many problems, right? No what nobody should enter a marriage like this. Now, what actually happens, especially here in the West, where some men they want to go for a second marriage, and of course, it's against the the law in of the Western country. So they do a Nikah, Sharai wise, it's legit, but it's not documented. And then something happens to the man, the wife finds him herself like with no rights, maybe she has children, they're not registered, it's a big mess. Yeah. Now, the second thing you were asking about is civil marriage, and how can we make sure that the niqah itself, from an Islamic point of view, doesn't contradict with the civil marriage, right? With the the the laws of the land.

SPEAKER_01 27:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 27:06

And that's where conditions and prenups come in, which we will discuss in other episodes. Like you said, this is a long series, gonna be all about nikas, right?

SPEAKER_00 27:15

So And speaking of that, if you guys know a Muslim lawyer, we would love to have him or her on the podcast because we have been looking for a good Muslim lawyer. Marriage, a Muslim marriage lawyer, Muslim marriage lawyer, uh divorce lawyer, um, to discuss prenups, um, everything that goes into a legal marriage here in the West, uh, while also balancing uh the Sharabi requirements.

SPEAKER_02 27:40

Yeah. So if we don't find anyone, we're gonna discuss it from according to our knowledge, uh whatever knowledge I have uh from what I studied. I have bachelor's, I have master's, alhamdulillah going for a PhD in uh September. Uh but if we have a Muslim uh divorce lawyer, we can go much deeper and tackle more interesting uh angles.

SPEAKER_00 28:03

Yeah, so again, email address, info at halamash.ca. Shoot us an email if you know someone.

Wrap Up And Nikah Checklist

SPEAKER_02 28:08

Or if you maybe are a Muslim divorce lawyer listening to us, we'd love to have you. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:14

So inshallah, through this episode, you guys got a basic understanding of what goes into a valinikah. So remember there are five basic requirements just to quickly summarize Bride and groom, witnesses, mahr, wali, and the fifth one. Proposal and acceptance. So always remember this basic framework as you guys prepare for inshallah your future marriage.

SPEAKER_02 28:38

Oh, so you're saying that wedding is not a condition? A walima is not a condition? Is that a wedding dress? A wedding cake is not a condition? So no, these are not conditions. But um, before we leave you guys, uh, we've prepared a PDF checklist uh for anyone who's considering getting married to go through. It's a modern Nikah readiness checklist. So make sure to check it out in the description of the episode.

SPEAKER_00 29:05

And look out for the next episode. As we said in the beginning, we're releasing a series of episodes under the topic of Nikah contracts. And next or sorry, in two weeks, we'll be diving into another part of Nikach contracts, which we won't share right now, but um, you'll see in two weeks. Inshallah. Inshallah. Until next time.