Islamic Marriage

There are no obstacles that prevent Muslims in Europe or America from having an Islamic marriage, a contract that adheres to the legal requirements of the state as well as the Islamic legal requirements. In certain respects, “a marriage is a marriage”, but in other respects, to abide by all the requirements of the Islamic marriage contract, the Muslim man and woman need to do some extra work. Local Islamic centers, as well as continent-wide organizations like ISNA, provide information and contract-forms to help potential Muslim families abide by both sets of laws (e.g. providing local religious “marriage services”, providing forms for an “Islamic will” to ensure abidance by Islamic inheritance laws, etc.).

Similarly, the notion that “a marriage is a marriage” may be applied in the realm of finance, e.g. “a lease is a lease”. In this domain also, the Muslim needs to ensure that the contract he signs with the lessor or lessee agrees with the conditions of the lease contract in Islamic jurisprudence. Those conditions are put in place to ensure that the contract would not contain elements of Ribaf or Gharar, which are forbidden in Islam.

Author: Mahmoud El-Gamal