Free Research Paper About Marriage In Islam

Nikah is an equal marriage between a man and a woman in the Islamic family law. Marriage is considered a holy deed, and as such is allowed to every Muslim. In Islam, it is recommended that a husband and wife were matched in age and social status. Bride’s consent is not required for first marriage, the consent of the father or the guardian is enough. A widow or a divorced woman agrees to marry by herself, through a trusted. The presence of bodily deficiencies is not an obstacle to marriage. As for dementia, the Hanafis and Hanbalis consider a marriage as legal if a mentally retarded man got married by himself, however, Ja'fari and the Shafi'i schools insist on the resolution of the guardian of such person. However, there are some limitations. The wife should not fall under the category of a mahram. Mahram is a close relative, to whom women are not allowed to marry because of their relationship, but who has the right to be left alone with and go on a journey. In addition, for a period of marriage is prohibited to marry the sister of his wife, her aunt, and niece. Consanguinity is allowed for no closer than a third degree in the side wings. The Qur'an forbids Muslim women to marry to non-Muslim. Male Muslims are forbidden to marry to the heathen or irreligious (atheist, agnostic) woman and is permitted, but not desirable marry a Christian or a Jew. The undesirability of the marriage with women from the category of "people of the Scriptures" in a non-Muslim country, in general, is bordered by a total ban. Cohabitation with a woman without marriage in Islam is forbidden and is considered adultery (zina). The hosts, guardians, and mediators decide for the underprivileged and disabled. Marriages with both male and female servants are prohibited, although cohabitation of the master and a servant is allowed. Moreover, marriages with other people’s servants and marriages between the servants are allowed. The servant must obtain a permission of the owner for a marriage. The servant has a right to live at the same time only with two wives. The number of wives in Islam is limited to four, so a person who has four wives and who wants to take one more wife must divorce from one of the former. Polyandry is prohibited in Islam. A widow or a divorced woman must wait a certain period of "iddah" before remarry, which depending on the Madhab lasts from four to twenty weeks. When choosing a bride, men are recommended to pay attention to her religiousness, temper, beauty, the ability to give birth, and origin. Most preferably, to marry a distant, not close relative.
All Madhabs agree that the man and the woman must be sane and adult, when pronouncing the formula of the marriage contract, unless their caregivers organize the marriage. The virgin cannot marry without the consent of the guardian, even if she is an adult. There is a consensus among scientists of all schools of thought that the appearance of menstruation and the ability to become pregnant are the signs of the adulthood for girls, allowing them to marry. However, different schools establish a different age of majority in the absence of menstruation in girls and output of seed or nocturnal emissions in boys. According to the Shafi'i and Hanbali schools of thought boys and girls become adults in fifteen years, according to the Maliki – in seventeen years, Hanafi - in eighteen, and Jafari Madhab considers girls to become adults in nine years and boys in fifteen years. However, modern Shiite scholars in their fatwas do not recommend girls to marry at such an early age.
The order of marriage in Islam was formed on the basis of the pre-Islamic family law complex. Islamic legal scholars of the first centuries of Islam were engaged in its development. Marriage consists of several stages:
• The first stage - agreement, matchmaking. The groom himself or by his proxy makes an offer to the trusted of the bride (father or guardian) and agree about the property, allocated by husband to the wife (mahr), and other conditions that will be the part of the marriage contract. According to the Hanbali school of thought, if the husband undertakes before the marriage not to force his wife to leave her country or city, or take her with himself on the business trips, or do not take a second (third, fourth) wife, then, both this condition and the marriage contract are valid. According to the Hanafi, Shafi'i and Maliki Madhab such condition has no power, but the marriage itself is considered as valid.
• The second and third stages - the transfer of the bride to the groom's house and a wedding celebration. If the bride is still a child, her transmission is delayed until she reaches adulthood (13-15 years). During the wedding celebration, the prenuptial agreement is announced and the mahr, or its part, is paid off. As mahr may serve everything, that has any value and that on what the right of ownership can be extended. It may be money, precious stones or metals, or any other valuable property. If the spouses did not agree mahr size at the signing of the marriage contract, in this case, the minimum size of the mahr is determined due to sharia. However, in all the Sunni schools of law, except Maliki, the mahr is not a prerequisite for marriage. Thus, if the spouse for some exceptional reason failed to pay the mahr, his marriage is not dissolved.

• The fourth stage - the actual entry into marriage (Nikah), after which the marriage is considered to be accomplished.

Marriage is desirable to take place in a mosque. The marriage contract is signed in the presence of witnesses, which can be two men or one man and two women due to the Hanafi Madhab. The ritualism of marriage depends on the wealth and social status of the families of spouses and on the local customs. If it is possible, it is desirable for Muslims to invite to the wedding feast as much friends and relatives as they can. Currently, marriage notaries register marriages in most Islamic countries. Despite the fact that the overall percentage of polygamous marriages have never been high, some countries have taken steps to restrict such marriages, until their complete prohibition.
Three types of marriage can be identified in Islam: polygamous, temporary and fictitious. All scholars are unanimous that a man can have several wives at the same time the maximum is four. Thus, if the man gets divorced with one of the four wives, he has no right to marry another woman in the period of iddah of the former spouse, if they have the right to renew the marriage if the divorce was not threefold. However, if there was a threefold divorce, a man is allowed to marry a new woman, including the sister or stepsister of the former wife when she waits the term of an iddah.

Muslims consider that polygamy solves a number of social problems:

• Prevents men from adultery. Naturally, many men are inclined to adultery, which leads to the spread of sexually transmitted diseases, increased divorce rates and so on;
• Protection of the woman. Today the number of women in the world largely exceeds the number of men, and polygamy gives the chance to bigger number of women under the guardianship and maintenance of her husband;
• Offspring. Polygamy contributes to the offspring.
Both Shiite and Sunni sources recorded the fact that temporary marriages were permitted and Muslims practiced them during the time of Prophet Muhammad and the first two caliphs Abu Bakr and Umar. Sunnis claim that the Prophet Muhammad canceled the temporary marriage, and, therefore, perceived it as adultery. Shiites consider cancellation of this kind of marriage by the prophet unproven, and cancellation by the caliph Oumar illegal, as Oumar was only a usurper, from their point of view.
If a man divorced with a woman three times, to marry her for the fourth time, the woman needs to marry other man and join with him in an intimate relationship. After the death of her second husband or divorce with him, she can marry again with her first husband.
Some Muslims who got into such situation and wishing to reunite with former wife get fictitious marriage, for the purpose of the subsequent divorce. This type of marriage in Islam is forbidden.
Talaq — divorce in Islam. The right to declare divorce has a husband or the sharia judge passing the decision on the wife's request. A man giving his wife a divorce must be an adult, sane, and divorce must be at will. All Madhab postulates consider that it is impossible to give a wife a divorce during menstruation or postpartum bleeding. At the four of Sunni Madhabs, the divorce given by the husband to the menstruating wife or during that cycle when they had intimate relations is considered to the forbidden, however, nevertheless, valid. But according to Jafari Madhab, such divorce isn't valid, with few exceptions in some cases. Shiites demand to pronounce a special divorce formula with two witnesses. No formula is registered and the presence of witnesses is not obligatory in Sunni Madhab. The man can divorce with one woman three times. After the third divorce, the spouse can only marry again after the woman marries other man, enters with this man into intimate relation and, exempts from him in some objective reasons. One-time pronouncing a triple divorce formula is prohibited in the Sunni Madhab. Shiites and Salafis consider such divorce for one. After the divorce, the woman is obliged to wait the term of an iddah before she can enter a new marriage. Iddah of a divorced woman is three menstrual cycles, iddah after temporary marriage - two menstrual cycles, widow’s iddah - four months and ten days, iddah of a pregnant woman - before the birth of the child.

Works cited

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