The types of marriage in Islam

Marriage in Islam is valid and considered according to Sharia law if its pillars are fulfilled and its conditions are fulfilled. A valid legitimate marriage in Islam results in the permissibility of the wife, proof of lineage and inheritance between spouses, while marriage in Islam is invalid and invalid if its conditions are not met and its pillars are not fulfilled. Where it does not entail it, In this case, the legal effects that result from a valid legal marriage, with the exception of some provisions that differ according to the facts.

The Legal marriage

The legal contract is the one that takes place in an agreement between two parties, and is linked to the offer and acceptance, and the presence of the guardian or his representative:

So he says to the husband: I marry you my daughter, according to the Sunnah of God and His Messenger, The husband says, “I accept,” so it speaks of offer and acceptance, and two witnesses from their family bear witness to it, this contract will not be valid unless the contract is valid and fulfills all the conditions in the contract like the value of the dowry must be valid and the other conditions in the contract, each party is obligated to agree on the existing terms of the contract, without prejudice to any of its conditions.

The jurists differed on this matter into two groups

The first

The majority of scholars are of the view that secret marriage is permissible, and this opinion is attributed to the Hanafi school of thought Shafi'i, Hanbali, Zahidi, and Zaidi.

They demonstrated the following as evidence for this with the marriage contract is valid when it fulfills its pillars and conditions stipulated by Sharia law, there has never been a valid prohibition against secret marriage if it is witnessed by two just people.

Ibn al-Arab said “Marriage is a contract that lacks an announcement and there is no dispute over it, and secret marriage is forbidden and there is no dispute over it. There was disagreement about its method, and Al-Shafi’i said: Every marriage is attended by two just men, It is beyond the bounds of a secret, even if they agreed to keep it secret. Abu Hanifa said: If two men are present, whether they are just or limited, or one man and two women, It has gone beyond the secret, even if they agreed to keep it secret and believed that the commanded announcement is testimony. Our companions said: without disagreement, the secret marriage is for them to communicate with the witnesses to avoid concealment, and that is not permissible.... Testimony is not one of the obligations or conditions of marriage, but rather the obligation is to announce, but testimony was prescribed to remove the expected dispute between the contracting parties, and on this basis the marriage of the Companions took place.”

2- The marriage shall not be secret; Because he knew of at least five; The husband and wife, the guardian, and the two witnesses, what goes beyond the two is not a secret; For this reason, it is inconceivable that the marriage could be both valid and secret.

The second:

The Malikis hold that a secret marriage is not permissible, and it is annulled by a divorce after that, unless it extends after entering, and it extends over a period of time that is left to custom, the spouses, the clerk, and the witnesses will be punished, even if they do so after the contract, there was no intention at the time of the contract, it is permissible, It was said: He is not spoiled if he intends to do so himself, such as if he got married and intended to separate.

They demonstrated this as follows:

1- On the authority of Aisha, on the authority of the Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, he said: ((Announce the marriage and beat him with a sieve))

The reasoning point is the hadith

The hadith explicitly indicates that the marriage must be announced;

Because the matter requires it to be obligatory, and this obviously entails the prohibition of secret marriage by default.

2- The Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, said: “Separating what is permissible from what is forbidden: the tambourine and the voice)); Abu Issa said: A good hadith.

The reasoning point is the hadith The hadith indicates that what distinguishes permissible marriage from forbidden adultery, It is the announcement, and this is evidence of the necessity of announcing the marriage, and the prohibition and immorality of secret marriage.

The discussion and weighting

After consideration and scrutiny, we find that the public’s opinion is more deserving of being accepted and followed. Due to the weakness of the Maliki evidence in terms of chain of transmission or inference, moreover, certification and registration in the Sharia courts now achieves the goal of announcing the marriage, because the marriage certificate is an official written document, which does not accept appeal except by forgery, this leads to the marriage being documented and not denied.

The second picture: Marriage without dowry

The second picture: Marriage without dowry God Almighty says:

﴿ وَآتُوا النِّسَاءَ صَدُقَاتِهِنَّ نِحْلَةً ﴾ [النساء: 4].

“And give the women their alms as a free gift” [An-Nisa: 4].

It is Sunnah to name it in the contract, and it is part of honesty. Because it indicates the sincerity of his humiliating desire. It was said: To honor the husband, and those addressed in the verse are husbands, It was said: the guardians; because they used to take it in pre-Islamic times.

He was called a bee; That is: a gift from God as an initiator. because the enjoyment of one of the spouses is in contrast to the enjoyment of the other, the dowry has no compensation according to the Shafi’is, and it is in exchange for the permissibility of enjoyment, according to the majority of jurists; This is why the Malikis believe that the dowry, one of the pillars of marriage, or one of its conditions.

The most likely opinion is that the dowry is one of the requirements and effects of marriage. That is: an effect resulting from the marriage contract, for this reason, the contract is valid without naming the dowry, according to scholarly agreement, It is one of the wife’s rights established by the marriage contract, the contract is required by a fixed law that is not permissible to change or deviate from or get out of him, If the marriage contract was concluded without a dowry, the marriage contract is concluded; Because God Almighty says:

﴿ لَا جُنَاحَ عَلَيْكُمْ إِنْ طَلَّقْتُمُ النِّسَاءَ مَا لَمْ تَمَسُّوهُنَّ أَوْ تَفْرِضُوا لَهُنَّ فَرِيضَةً ﴾ [البقرة: 236].

There is no sin on you if you divorce women, unless you touch them or loan them a duty” [Al-Baqarah: 236].

So God Almighty confirmed divorce without naming the dowry, divorce only takes place during a valid marriage, If this is proven; a woman who is married without a dowry is called a delegate, with a kasra and a fatha waw, Whoever has a kasra adds the verb to it, it is a subject, and whoever conquered, added to her guardian, the meaning of delegation is neglect. It was as if she had neglected the matter of the dowry.

The delegation in terminology

That the spouses remain silent about the appointment of contract annuitants,

This is delegated to one of them, or to someone else, and then he does not enter into it until it is specified,

The delegation in terminology

That the spouses remain silent about specifying the domicile at the time of the contract, this is delegated to one of them, or to someone else, and then he does not enter into it until it is specified, that is: to base friendship on the opinion of one of them, or the opinion of a stranger, He says: I married you to whatever you want, or according to your ruling, or according to my ruling, Or according to her ruling, or a foreign ruling or the like.

The delegated marriage is permissible according to the agreement of the jurists

This is indicated by the words of God Almighty:

﴿ لَا جُنَاحَ عَلَيْكُمْ إِنْ طَلَّقْتُمُ النِّسَاءَ مَا لَمْ تَمَسُّوهُنَّ أَوْ تَفْرِضُوا لَهُنَّ فَرِيضَةً ﴾ [البقرة: 236].

“There is no sin on you if you divorce women unless you touch them or establish for them a duty” [Al-Baqarah: 236].

It was narrated that Ibn Masoud was asked about a man who married a woman and did not impose a dowry to her, He did not have intercourse with her until he died, so Ibn Masoud said: She has the dowry of her women, there is no deficiency or omission, and she is required to observe the waiting period, and she is entitled to inheritance, Then Maqil bin Sinan Al-Ashja’i stood up and said: The Messenger of God has ruled on Barwa’ bint Washq, One of us - just like you said.

2 - The customary marriage

(Halal marriage if the terms and conditions are met)

If it fulfills its pillars and conditions, including the guardian, the offer, acceptance, and witness to the contract, the dowry is a valid marriage even if it is not documented by official documentation authorities.

But it is required by law Registering the marriage with an official document, and whoever does not do so is sinning, and if the contract is valid, it will have its legal consequences, as for customary marriage, in which both parties simply write a paper acknowledging the marriage, there is no dispute regarding its prohibition, as it is adultery and is not called marriage and It does not have the legal effects of marriage.

Here is the fatwa of His Eminence Dr. Hossam Afaneh - Professor of Jurisprudence and its Principles at Al-Quds University in Palestine:

It is well known that customary marriage is called a marriage that fulfills the pillars and conditions but is not registered with an official document, Such as registering it in the Sharia court, and a paper may be written in the presence of the guardian and witnesses, this is what writers have done in cases of marriage and personal status.

But some people use the term common-law marriage

It happens between a young man and a girl, such as when he says to her, “Marry me yourself,” and she tells him, I marry you myself Your wife and I then write a paper between themselves or with a lawyer, this type has become widespread in many countries and has begun to be practiced in our country, there is no doubt that this second type is invalid, and this is not considered marriage in Sharia law, but rather it is adultery, God Almighty forbid.

The first is a legally recognized marriage

This was common among Muslims in the past until documenting marriage with official documents became common among Muslims and some personal status laws became, It is necessary to officially register the marriage. There is no doubt that the marriage contract was concluded in the past without a document and without registration, as Sheikh Al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah, may God Almighty have mercy on him, said: [The Companions, may God be pleased with them, did not write friendships because they did not marry on a delayed basis, Rather, they expedite the dowry, and if they delay it, it is well known, When people started getting married on the back end, and the period was getting longer and people were forgetting, they started writing down the back end, this became evidence in proving the dowry and that she was his wife, . total Fatwas of Sheikh Al-Islam 32/131. But registering the marriage contract has become a necessity.

It is not said why we do not follow what the previous ones did, namely not registering?

So I say: There is a difference between us and them. Many people’s reputations have been ruined, piety has diminished, and piety has almost disappeared in our time. Therefore, I stress the necessity of registering the marriage in an official document, I believe that whoever marries a common-law marriage or marries his daughter in a common-law marriage is a sinner according to Islamic law, although the common-law marriage, if completed, fulfills the pillars and conditions of marriage, It is valid according to Islamic law, and the fact that it is valid does not prevent it from being prohibited, like one who performs Hajj with illicit money, His argument is valid, but he is sinful according to Islamic law, It is known that writing and documenting contracts of all kinds is required by Sharia, especially in this era, when the religion of many people have been ruined and their religion and piety have diminished, their greed and avarice increased, and relying on the factor of trust between people is not guaranteed because people’s hearts are fickle and their circumstances change, God Almighty has commanded the strengthening of the religion, as God Almighty says:

(يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا إِذَا تَدَايَنْتُمْ بِدَيْنٍ إِلَى أَجَلٍ مُسَمًّى فَاكْتُبُوهُ وَلْيَكْتُبْ بَيْنَكُمْ كَاتِبٌ بِالْعَدْلِ …. وَلَا تَسْأَمُوا أَنْ تَكْتُبُوهُ صَغِيرًا أَوْ كَبِيرًا إِلَى أَجَلِهِ ذَلِكُمْ أَقْسَطُ عِنْدَ اللَّهِ وَأَقْوَمُ لِلشَّهَادَةِ وَأَدْنَى أَلَّا تَرْتَابُوا ) سورة البقرة الآيتان 282-283

(O you who have believed, when you contract a debt for a specified period, write it down, and let a scribe write it justly between you... And do not be weary of writing it, whether small or large, according to its term, that is fairer in the sight of God, more steadfast for testimony, and more likely that you should not doubt. (Surat Al-Baqarah, verses 282-283)

this is the divine command to write dinars and dirhams because of the preservation of rights in writing, so it is more appropriate to write what is related to honor and lineage, in addition to the above, people must adhere to what is stipulated in the Personal Status Law, so obeying this law is a matter of obedience to what is good, especially since it achieves people's interests and preserves their rights, especially the rights of women and children. It is known that all Muslims in this country refer to the Sharia judiciary, In their cases related to marriage, divorce, inheritance, etc., they refer to the Personal Status Law, which is derived from Islamic law, It must be adhered to according to Islamic law, and it was mentioned in the hadith that the Messenger, may God bless him and grant him peace, said: (Obedience is only in what is right) Narrated by Al-Bukhari and Muslim, and on the authority of Ibn Omar, may God be pleased with them, on the authority of the Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, who said (Hearing and obedience, A right as long as he is not commanded to commit disobedience. If he is commanded to commit disobedience, then there is no listening or obedience.) Narrated by Al-Bukhari and Muslim. I present to those who issue fatwas against registering marriage in an official document and encourage people to do so, some of the things that happen in common-law marriages, the husband may deny that he married in an unregistered marriage, so what happens to the wife and children?

It is known that some personal status laws may [The judicial courts were obligated not to hear or acknowledge a marital claim except upon submission of an official document, and this is what the Egyptian judiciary has settled on since 1931 It was stipulated in Article (99) of the Sharia Courts Regulations, amended by Law No. (78) of 1951. The Egyptian Fatwa House issued a fatwa on 2/1/1957, the paragraph stipulates that the case will not be heard when the marital claim is denied or acknowledged, Unless it is an official document, this paragraph does not require the official document for the validity of the marriage contract, Rather, it is a condition for hearing the case. One of these laws is the Kuwaiti Personal Status Law,

It was stated in Article (92), paragraph: (A)

“When denied, a marital claim will not be heard unless it is confirmed by an official marriage certificate, or the denial preceded acknowledgment of the marriage in official papers.” Jurisprudential developments in marriage and divorce issues, pp. 145-146.

Likewise, a marriage that is not registered with an official document is easy to deny, consequently, he is freed from all his material and moral obligations.

Unlike marriage documented with an official document [an official marriage is issued by an official document from the state, unlike customary marriage which is concluded verbally or in which a customary paper is written, the contemporary judiciaries have defined an official document as “one issued by an employee who is competent, by virtue of his job, to issue it.” The official document cannot be denied, It is not permissible to challenge it under any circumstances, and based on that, the marriage contract is definitively proven. As for the common-law marriage contract, even if it is proven by witnesses or a common-law document, it is subject to appeal and denial, If the paper written between them was lost or deliberately destroyed, what about the rights of the wife and children? What about the wife’s right to inheritance in the event of the husband’s death in a common-law marriage? How many tragedies have happened to the wife and children due to the failure to register the marriage with an official document?

The conclusion:

The marriage must be legally registered with an official document, and whoever does not do so is sinning, and if the contract is valid, it will have its legal consequences, No one should encourage customary marriage because of the harm it entails and the loss of the rights of the wife and children, I advise parents not to marry their daughters into common-law marriages and to be very careful about a valid marriage documented with an official document and registered in the Sharia courts, ended briefly from the website of His Eminence Sheikh Hossam Afaneh.

His Eminence Sheikh Attiya Saqr, former head of the Fatwa Committee at Al-Azhar - may God have mercy on him - says:

Customary marriage refers to a marriage contract that is not documented by an official document. It is of two types: A type that fulfills the pillars and conditions, and a type that does not. The first is a legally valid contract through which enjoyment is permitted and rights are determined for both parties and for the offspring resulting from them, as well as inheritance, This system was prevalent before modern systems existed that required the documentation of these contracts. As for the second type of customary marriage, it has two forms: A picture in which it is sufficient for both parties to agree to the marriage without any witnesses or others knowing about it, there is an option in which the contract is for a specific period, such as a month or a year, they are both invalid according to the agreement of the Sunni schools of thought. If we say that the first type is valid according to Islamic law, it is permissible to have sexual intercourse, but it has harmful effects.

It results in forbidden things, including:

1 - That it violates the order of the ruler, and obedience to him is obligatory in what is not disobedient and achieves an interest,

Allah says

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا أَطِيُعوا الله وأَطِيعُوا الرَّسُول وَأُولِي الأمْرِ مِنْكُمْ ) ( النساء: 59 ).

(O you who have believed, obey God and obey the Messenger and those in authority among you) (An-Nisa: 59).

2 - The woman who has a pension will keep her pension; Because she is not officially married, but she is already married, and here she has seized what is not her right with God. Because her maintenance has become obligatory for her husband, It is not permissible to combine the pension, which is a government expense, with the pension imposed on her husband. This is consuming money unjustly, and it is forbidden.

3 - Also, not documenting it exposes her right to loss, such as an inheritance for which a lawsuit cannot be heard without a document, likewise, her right to divorce is lost if she is harmed, and it is not permissible for her to marry someone else unless he divorces her, perhaps he clings to it and does not divorce it, for this and other reasons, common-law marriage that was not documented was forbidden by Sharia, despite the validity of the contract and the possibility of enjoying it, something may be true and yet it is forbidden, such as someone who prays in a stolen garment, His prayer is valid, but it is forbidden in order to steal what covers the private parts so that the prayer is valid, likewise, if he performs Hajj with stolen money, the obligation is waived for him, and despite that, he has committed a great sin for theft.

The blood marriage

(invalid marriage)

It consists of the young man and girl pricking each other's thumb to show blood, then placing their thumbs on each other. Until they blend with each other. Its legal ruling is “haram”.

The shaghar marriage

A question was received on the official page of the Egyptian Fatwa House, the content of which was: “Two men agreed that the first would marry his sister to the second’s son, and the second would marry his daughter to the first without a dowry, The two contracts were concluded in this form as compensation, so what is their legal ruling? Is it correct to cancel them? Here you go.”

The answer to the question came in Fatwa No. 2545, as follows: “We looked at this question, and the answer: these two contracts, as stated in the question, are part of the well-known marriage contract, according to jurists, nikah al-Shighar means: marrying his daughter or sister to him, provided that the other one marries him, His daughter or sister, for example, in exchange for the two contracts,

According to the Hanafi school of thought

it is a valid marriage, in which the equivalent dowry for each of the two wives is obligatory for her husband, because marriage is a legitimate contract that is not invalidated by invalid conditions, but rather the condition is invalidated and the contract is valid.

Here, the two contracting parties stipulated that one of the two contracts would take the place of the other in exchange for compensation without dowry, this is a corrupt condition; Because it results in the marriage contract being devoid of what constitutes a dowry, since what is specified is not money, so this condition is void, and a similar dowry is required; It was stated in “Explanation of Al-Zayla’i on Kanz Al-Daqa’iqa’” in (Chapter Al-Mahr) the following: “As for Nikah al-Shighar, which is when a man marries his daughter, sister, or female slave, provided that the other gives him his daughter, sister, or female slave in marriage, so that one of the two contracts is a substitute for the other; because it's called what is not suitable as a dowry, since what is called is not money, so the equivalent dowry is obligatory, such as if he marries her for wine or dead meat, and thus he knows the answer to the question if the situation is as mentioned.”

The temporary marriage ( The pleasure marriage )

What is the ruling on temporary marriage, and what are the legal texts that indicate the ruling? Why did the Messenger, may God bless him and grant him peace, permit temporary marriage and then forbid it?

The answer Praise be to God, prayer and peace be upon our prophet The basic principle of marriage is that it will last forever as long as the spouses remain together, except in rare circumstances in which separation is a matter of choosing the lesser of two evils; because the separation of spouses entails the destruction of the family, a catastrophe for the children, and the tearing apart of social ties that Islam is keen on perpetuating, this is why Islam forbids temporary marriage and considers it invalid due to the evils it entails, and those who issue fatwas regarding its permissibility are ashamed to mention it. It is found in their books and rarely in society, and I knew this from them firsthand, the enlightened among them blame the one who issues fatwas, therefore, there is no need for us to force them to do so so that they will not become fanatic towards it, and perhaps they will repent.

Al-Bukhari and Muslim narrated on the authority of the great companion Ali bin Abi Talib, may God be pleased with him, on the authority of the Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, that he forbade the pleasure of women.

The strange thing is that those who claim that it is permissible consider themselves to be followers of Imam Ali, may God be pleased with him, but they do not act according to what the Sunnis narrate, as for why the Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, remained silent about temporary marriage at the beginning, it was because it was one of the types of marriage known in pre-Islamic times, and settled in their souls, so the Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, remained silent about it until the divine command came to prohibit it, as noted in the text of the previous hadith: (God has forbidden that)

The Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, does not come with a ruling of his own. God Almighty said:

(وَمَا يَنْطِقُ عَنِ الْهَوَى . إِنْ هُوَ إِلاّ وَحْيٌ يُوحَى) النجم/3-

(And he does not speak out of inclination, It is nothing but a revelation revealed.) An-Najm / 3-Imam Ali bin Abi Talib, may God be pleased with him, threatened the companion who issued a fatwa permitting it, If the prohibition did not reach him, he threatened him with stoning if he did so, If every sane person thought about pleasure, he would find it similar to hiring prostitutes for immoral purposes, as it does not entail building a family, there is no stability between spouses, and therefore some countries that adhere to the Shiite doctrine have begun to fight this type of relationship between men and women, It encouraged those who offered themselves for this purpose to marry with financial assistance, If someone is unable to marry, she is qualified to learn a craft from which she can earn a living, then it is better to stop talking about this topic. God only knows the best.