ijab and qubul
A Muslim marriage (nikah) is a civil contract, and like any contract it requires a proposal by or on behalf of one party and acceptance by or on behalf of the other. Both must be expressed at the same meeting (majlis): a proposal made at one meeting and accepted at another does not create a valid marriage. No particular words or religious ceremony are essential, but the consent must be free and the parties competent.
Under Sunni law the offer and acceptance must be made in the presence of two adult Muslim male witnesses, or one male and two female witnesses; without them the marriage is irregular (fasid). Under Shia law witnesses are not required. The proposal and acceptance may be made through agents (vakils) or, for a minor, by the guardian.
Example
Where the bride's acceptance was conveyed by letter a week after the proposal, there was no valid ijab and qubul at one meeting.
In Indian law
- Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act, 1937
See also
nikah · fasid marriage · mahr · khiyar-ul-bulugh
Read more in the study notes
- Minority and guardianship (Family Law I - Hindu Law)
- Muslim marriage: nature, essentials and kinds (Family Law II - Mohammedan Law)
- Hiba: gifts under Muslim law (Family Law II - Mohammedan Law)
- Secularism and the State's power to regulate secular activities associated with religion (Indian Constitutional Law - New Challenges)
- Religion, secularism, conversion and the uniform civil code (Law and Social Transformation in India)
- Muslim marriage (nikah, mehr, talaq) and Christian marriage (Sociology - Indian Society Continuity and Change)