The Bride’s attorney, if appointed, along with his father’s name and residence:Ĩ. According to the Majority Act, 1875 a woman cannot vote or be issued an identity card at the age of 16, but oddly enough she is deemed capable of becoming a wife and bearing children at this young age.ħ. The Bride’s age: Although the age of a bridegroom must be at least 18 at the time of marriage, a bride may be 16 years old (Child Marriage Restraint Act, 1929). Whether bride is a virgin, widow or divorced: Interestingly, a woman who has never been married is officially referred to as a virgin in most English translations of this document.Ħ. The name of the Bride & her father’s name along with her residence:ĥ. The name of the Bridegroom & his father’s name along with his residence:Ĥ. Ward No: Town/Union: Police Station: District: Where Marriage heldĢ. A standard template of the Islamic marriage contract (as per rules 8 and 10 of the Rules under the Pakistan Muslim Family Laws Ordinance, 1961 (VIII of 1961)) is contained below, with commentary on the relevant provisions set out in italics and any non-contentious, self-explanatory provisions have not been commented on):ġ. It is difficult to comment on the Islamic marriage contract exhaustively, but I have attempted to highlight the provisions that spouses (particularly brides) need to pay special attention to before signing this document. Taking the above facts into account, the Nikah Nama should be read as a document targeted at upholding the rights and dignity of women in a marriage. Ironically, the study notes that women’s rights in marriage negotiation and dissolution were severely limited following adaptation of nineteenth-century European traditions of gender by the Egyptian legal system. In one example, a judge referred to the Hanafi madhhab and concluded that a wife was not obliged to travel with her husband away from the home where she was secure and protected. The same study finds that Egyptian courts during the early Islamic period were considerably flexible and liberal in interpreting Islamic injunctions in favor of women so that a wife could successfully sue to end her marriage for inadequacy of financial support or lack of companionship. Vogel, The Islamic Marriage Contract: Case Studies in Islamic Family Law, the Islamic Legal Studies Program, Harvard Law School (2008)). Men in that time were, as today, in lesser need of protection.Ī study finds that one prominent obligation in early Islamic marriage contracts in Egypt was the husband’s responsibility to support his wife financially ( Asifa Qureshi & Frank E. In light of the inconsistent pre-Islamic Arabian practices described above, it would be fair to posit that Islam, and particularly the marriage contract, aimed to broaden and extend the protection granted to all women, notwithstanding their individual bargaining powers Surah Nisa and various Quranic verses lend credence to this contention. Islam attempted to unify and consolidate the rules and regulations on marriage in keeping with Islamic principles, so that these remained consistent irrespective of the affiliations, social status or geographical location of the spouses. However, there were also contemporaneous records of Arabian women managing their own businesses and making proposals of marriage to men of their own accord much before the advent of Islam. Undeniably, some tribes accorded women no rights and treated them as mere property or “ornaments” – it was relatively common for newborn girls to be buried alive and sons to inherit their fathers’ wives (numbering a hundred or more in some cases) in pre-Islamic Arabia. As a result, the extent of a woman’s emancipation largely depended on the tribe she belonged to and her status within her tribe. Historians have found that in pre-Islamic Arabia tribal customs and practices governed all matters, including marriages, and there was no uniform set of rules applicable to the citizens of the region. To understand the Islamic marriage contract, it is necessary to examine its provisions in the historical context of the marital reforms that Islam brought about. Today, with more than 1.6 billion Muslims worldwide, it is particularly important to fully comprehend the nuances of the Islamic marriage contract. In fact, the Islamic religion strongly emphasizes entering into contracts for any ‘transaction’ – and a marriage is treated as such. This document details the rights and obligations of the partners to the marriage, and was deemed integral to any Muslim marriage long before pre-nuptial agreements became fashionable. A Nikah Nama, otherwise known as the Islamic marriage contract, governs marital relations between any Muslim couple.
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