Introduction

Under Muslim Law, marriage is seen as a contract between the bride and the groom. As per Section 2 of Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act, 1986 Marriage is a ‘Solemn Pact’ or Mithaq-e-ghalid’ between a man & a woman; soliciting each other’s life companionship, which in law takes the form of a contract. Therefore, Muslim Marriage is termed as ‘Nikaah’.  Hence, the conditions of Muslim Marriage are similar to that of the contract.

Kinds of Marriage

Among Muslims, there are two kinds of marriages:

  1. Regular Marriage
  2. Muta Marriage

Regular Marriage

The conditions and process of a regular marriage are as follows:

Firstly, there should be a proposal (‘Ijab’) made by or on behalf of one of the parties to the marriage and there should be an acceptance (‘Qubul’) by or on behalf of the other party to the marriage. This condition should be fulfilled in one sitting and immediately. Also, both parties should be adults and sane. There should be two male or one male and two female adults who are sane, present at the time of marriage. Only females cannot be witnesses. Along with this, the primary condition remains that both the individual should be Muslims.

The third mandatory requirement for marriage is that it should be solemnized through a token of love and affection i.e. ‘Mehar.’ This may be specified but, if not specified in the marriage agreement, ‘Mehar’ will be paid according to the dower of bride’s sister or her paternal aunt, etc. This token of love and affection is sometimes treated as consideration. The consent to such marriage will be given by the father if the father is dead then the lawful guardian, otherwise the mother. In cases where the mother is dead than any other such person appointed by the minister.

Muta Marriage

The meaning of the word Muta is “enjoyment’, therefore muta marriage means ‘marriage for pleasure’. In other words, muta marriage is a temporary marriage. This was basically done because, in earlier days of Islam, Arabs had to live away from their homes for a long period either on account of wars or on trade-journeys; they used to satisfy their sex-desires through prostitutes.

But in order to confer legitimacy upon the children of such unions, temporary marriage was recognized and permitted by the Prophet for some time.

Later on, when people started to take advantage of this practice, then it was prohibited. Even though this practice is not very common in India but even till today this form of marriage is in practice only in Shia law.  Moreover, a Shia of the male sex may contract a Muta marriage with a woman professing the Muslim, Christian or Jewish religion or even with a woman who worships fire but not with any woman following any other religion. On the other hand, a Shia woman cannot contract a Muta marriage with a non-Muslim man.

There are some of the essentials/conditions which need to be followed for the Muta Marriage:

  1. The period of cohabitation should be fixed.
  2. Dower should be fixed.
  3. If the dower is specified, the term not specified, it could amount to permanent or regular marriage.
  4. If a term is fixed, dower not specified, it amounts to void marriage.

Conclusion

As per the historical era, marriage is the religious duty of every Muslim and it is considered to be a moral safeguard and a social need. It is believed that the Prophet has said that marriage is a tradition which every Muslim must follow and whosoever keeps himself/herself away from it is not amongst the Muslims.

Marriage in Hindu is a marriage sacrament, whereas in Muslims a marriage is a nature of a civil contract. Marriage is necessary for the legitimization of a child. A child born without the marriage is treated to be the illegitimate child. When the marriage is done in accordance with the prescribed norms it creates various rights and obligations on both the partners.

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