Nikah vs. Marriage Ceremony

[BlackVelvet]

UK Muslim Marriages Not Recognised
By Robert Clarkson on February 4, 2010 11:30 AM | No TrackBacks
BBC News reports many Muslim marriages in the UK are legally invalid.

Muslim couples who have a traditional 'nikah' wedding in the UK but fail to register the marriage are not recognised as married under British law.

The BBC spoke to a young student from Birmingham who learned her nikah was legally invalid when she enrolled at university and was asked to produce a marriage certificate. "It was then I realised I didn't have one and it came as a big shock to me," she said.

Apparently she asked her husband to register their marriage but he was against the idea. Then, a few months later, she came home and found that the locks to her front door had been changed and that she had been thrown out of her home:

"I took legal action but I got nothing. I'd paid the mortgage on the house but my husband held legal title to the property so I lost everything.

"It was as though the marriage had never happened. It was the worst time of my life."

Family lawyer Aina Khan told the BBC:

"The problem is extremely widespread and it's like a time-bomb because it's affecting mostly young Muslims, who are under 30 or in their early 30s.

"My colleagues and I deal with hundreds of cases where things have gone wrong because the wedding was not registered.

"Unmarried couples only have cohabitant rights, so it's extremely expensive and difficult to get individuals justice if the marriage ends or one spouse dies."

Dr. Ghayasuddin Siddiqui, the head of Britain's Muslim Parliament, says many Muslim women face ruin because their Islamic marriages are not legally recognised:

"It's a major problem in the community. But it's very difficult to say how many people are affected because there are no statistics. It could be in the hundreds, if not thousands."

Shaista Gohir, the head of the UK Muslim Women's Network, points out that:

"If a couple has a nikah in a Muslim country then the marriage is recognised under UK law.

"But many people do not realise that this is not the case if the nikah is conducted in this country."

Dr. Siddiqiui believes some Muslim women are exploited as their partners promise them a civil wedding after the nikah only to refuse to go ahead with it:

"This allows Muslim men to control their wives destinies.

"It also enables some men to commit polygamy. I know of cases where men have taken on several wives because they have just had the nikah with each partner."

He advises Muslim women to protect themselves by insisting on a civil ceremony before the nikah. He also wants mosques to register with local authorities so they can conduct civil marriages. "The problem is that only a handful of mosques across the country are registering themselves," explains Dr. Siddiqiui.

"I don't know why this is the case because it is very simple to do - all they need to do is fill out a form. Religious leaders must take a bigger responsibility to protect many Muslim women who are unnecessarily suffering."

http://blogs.findlaw.com/solicitor/2010 ... nised.html

[HalfDzed]

Its best to get a government issued marriage certificate in addition to the nikaah papers. That's what I did as soon as I got married. Its a very simple procedure. You go to your local court-house, pay $20, fill out a marriage registration form, hand over your I.D.'s, your nikaah papers provided its signed & dated. They photocopy everything and then they mail the certificate to you in 7-10 business days.

[union]

A lesson learned.

[marcassmith]

snet ladies talk too much about marriage and divorce.

BORING!

[BlackVelvet]

Muslim women should take this seriously and take responsibility for their future. Your rights negatively affected when you accept to be the 'Nikah only' wife.

[HELWAA]

The problem is..many greedy xalimoos want stay single to collect welfare mony thats why they never register their marriages.What they dont realize is the guy can marry how many wives he want, move out of the country and do whatever he like.

[Lord Diplock]

snet ladies talk too much about marriage and divorce.

BORING!

A valid observation, I wonder why myself

[HELWAA]

snet ladies talk too much about marriage and divorce.

BORING!

A valid observation, I wonder why myself

Adiga macmiil kamatihid the women section horta asking to many Q?

[Lord Diplock]

snet ladies talk too much about marriage and divorce.

BORING!

A valid observation, I wonder why myself

Adiga macmiil kamatihid the women section horta asking to many Q?

listen woman, am free to ask as many questions as I want, this is a free forum and you have no bloody right to tell me anything. is that loud and clear

[Leila25]

Is she for real? She is a young student from UK and does not know what constitutes an official marriage in her country? The government should not interfere in people's affairs if they choose to be in unregistered marriages/polygamous. Syed Warsi doesnt think so.

[BlackVelvet]

listen woman, am free to ask as many questions as I want, this is a free forum and you have no bloody right to tell me anything. is that loud and clear

Valid observations go two ways.

[HELWAA]

Lord

waa maxay dagaalku? take a chill pill huuno.

Excuse me...why wonder over why we post to many topics about marriages and divorce when you basically do the same.....isn't that some sort of hypocrisy.

[BlackVelvet]

The problem is..many greedy xalimoos want stay single to collect welfare mony thats why they never register their marriages.What they dont realize is the guy can marry how many wives he want, move out of the country and do whatever he like.

I don't get this stuff. Gaal been loo sheegay been ma'aha attitude maskaxda dadka ka gashey. All their kids are born outside a legally recognised marriage waa foolxumo.

[Lord Diplock]

Is she for real? She is a young student from UK and does not know what constitutes an official marriage in her country? The government should not interfere in people's affairs if they choose to be in unregistered marriages/polygamous. Syed Warsi doesnt think so.

Under the law of land, one is only married if you register with the state's authorities and the church. Most Somalis and Muslim don't bother with this, nikah is enough for them and no one bothers with marriage certificate. What is the point?

BV: Everyone is entilted to their opinions, you can say whatever you want in this place as far am concern.

Helwaa: am okay walashis, I don't need to explain myself, you want me to stop posting in Women section?

You make a valid observation as well, we are all humans and we like to talk about the other sex, good.

[HELWAA]

The problem is..many greedy xalimoos want stay single to collect welfare mony thats why they never register their marriages.What they dont realize is the guy can marry how many wives he want, move out of the country and do whatever he like.

I don't get this stuff. Gaal been loo sheegay been ma'aha attitude maskaxda dadka ka gashey. All their kids are born outside a legally recognised marriage waa foolxumo.

Hadeyba gaal ku dhaheen waan is furney, they're divorced and every child that is born after that date is basically a bastard.Subxanallah..somali lacag bey ku waashen.




Lord d

You're wlc in our section as long you dont attack us.