Formalities of a Muslim marriage.

  

Date Posted: 1/21/2013 7:58:57 AM

Posted By: Brendah Aroko  Membership Level: Gold  Total Points: 3317

---

The most important formalities of a valid Muslim marriage are no so specific except for the offer and acceptance.The offer must be made and accepted in front of witnesses.There have to be other people to confirm the whole process of offer and acceptance. In Muslim marriages though, the parties can make the offer and acceptance or their parents or guardians can do it on their behalf.The declaration of offer and acceptance or the other should be intended to show an intention to contract a marriage. The offer and acceptance must be made in one meeting or session and so there must be a guardian who gives the woman away in marriage and is called 'wahi'.

The marriage consideration or payment differed from that under customary law.The 'mahir' or dowry is paid ti the woman by the man unlike in customary law where dowry is paid to the woman's family and not to the bride. The amount payable is usually negotiated by the parties before the marriage is contracted and in cases where there is no agreement reached before the marriage, the amount payable is not fixed but depends on the different sects and is dependent on the social status of the woman's family.

There are three aspects surrounding Muslim marriages ;
- legal
- social
- religious
Legally, a Muslim marriage is seen as a contract which provides for certain requirements as regards consent, consequences for breach and since it is considered as a contract, the marriage can be enforced judicially.
Socially a Muslim marriage gives women the higher status in the society in terms of respect and acquiring dignity. The Muslim law allows polygamy but with certain restrictions. Under Muslim law, marriage is regarded as a sacred covenant encouraged according to the Koran by Prophet Mohammed.

For a valid Muslim marriage to take

place there are some essentials which include the following ;
- Status
- Prohibited degrees of relationships
- Consent.

With regards to status, marriage should be between a biological man and a biological woman which means that gay marriages are not allowed.The parties are required to have reached puberty so that it acts as a sign of maturity.
A man is allowed to marry up to four wives but it is however not permissible to marry wives at a go. The marriages must be done at different times.The woman must be single and under single we have one who was never married, a divorced woman and a widowed woman.They are all permitted to get married.Where a woman has been widowed or divorced, she has to wait for a period of about four months before she can contract another marriage and this period is called the 'iddat' period and this is set in order to determine whether she is pregnant or not.

Under prohibited degrees of relationships, parties are not allowed to marry under certain degrees of affinity. For example a man cannot purport to marry his mother, grandmother, sister, niece, grandchild or ascendants or descendants of his wife.
Consent is mainly covered under the formalities.

---

Next: Racial and tribal misunderstanding.
Previous: Why bright students may fail in examinations