Marriage, in Islam, is an institution established on principles that derive from equity, fairness, mutual love and responsibility. It is a contract entered into by parties, which from the onset, is based on defined Islamic terms and conditions. A marriage bond stands void if contracted without the following elements namely: the consent of the bride’s parent/guardian (called Waliyy in Islamic literature) if she is a maiden with that marriage being the first experience; bride-price (called Sadaq); at least two upright men as witnesses; and the marriage formula (called Sigha) which involves the expression in public by the bride’s guardian saying “I marry to you my daughter whose name is …”, and the groom’s acceptance saying “I accept to marry your daughter whose name is …”.
The marriage could be contracted at the bride’s residence, mosque, court, or any other place that is acceptable and convenient for both parties to the contract; the groom and the bride. While it is in order to conclude a marriage contract in a court of law, the nature of the contract entered into could be an issue if it contravenes Shari’ah. This is the subject-matter of today’s discourse.
A feature published in the Saturday, December 16, 2023 edition of this paper titled “A new trend in Kwara as Muslims resort to court marriage” is not only a disturbing story but a threat to the prophetic practice of the marriage contract system among Muslims in Nigeria. According to this story, Muslims in Kwara state now prefer court marriages over Islamic marriage described in the first paragraph of this piece. Court marriage is that in which both parties assent to certain agreements that may not necessarily correspond to provisions of the Quran and Sunnah of the Prophet (SAW).
The story cites the case of a Muslim couple who had been married but went to the Kwara State High Court, Ilọrin, to contract statutory or court marriage. This was at the instance of the wife who ‘wanted’ to join her husband that had relocated to the United Kingdom (UK). Soon after the court marriage, the husband said his wife began to threaten him with the marriage certificate issued by the court each time they had a misunderstanding. The marriage, unfortunately, crashed before she could travel to join her husband in the UK.
But if we may ask, is anything wrong with statutory or court marriage? Yes, many things are not right about it. For instance, legal experts explain that marrying under the act confers on the woman the right to remain the only wife of her husband; having him exclusively to herself. The ‘one man – one wife’ principle of the statutory marriage is believed to be the main reason why some Muslim women now prefer it over the Islamic marriage that allows a man to marry up to a maximum of four at a time. Under the statutory marriage, any other marriage contracted by the husband is null and void for as long as the marriage subsists. Besides, the only court with requisite jurisdiction in the case of a divorce is the high court. This is completely unlike marriage under the Islamic law which confers jurisdiction on any area court.
The other knotty issue in statutory marriage is that if the husband dies while the marriage lasts, the wife has the entire estate to herself under the act. This, too, is contrary to Qur’anic injunctions which permit parents that survive the husband to inherit him as heirs. This could also be one of the selfish reasons why some women are attracted to statutory marriage; all in the effort to exclude others from inheriting the husband.
Some people blame the scramble for statutory marriage on the recognition given to the certificate issued in lieu of the marriage. But if certificate is the ultimate that appeals to women or a couple to go for statutory marriage, is it not proper that they approach a Shari’ah court which has the jurisdiction to issue a certificate that would be devoid of provisions that are inconsistent with the Qur’an and orthodox prophetic practice? At any Shari’ah court, there wouldn’t be any need to contract a statutory marriage before a certificate is issued.
A woman’s use of statutory marriage certificate to suppress her husband’s right to polygamy is equal in effect to daring Allah’s will and wisdom. This could only come from the misguided imagination of a very green-eyed, selfish and ill-disciplined woman. Allah states in Qur’an 33:36 “It is not fitting for a believer, man or woman, when a matter has been decided by Allah and His Messenger, to have any option about their decision; if anyone disobeys Allah and His Messenger, he is indeed on a clearly wrong path.”
The idea that most women who persuade their husbands to go for statutory marriage are the western-educated or elitist wives may not be completely true. Educational background or type of education can not be the strongest determinant of a woman’s disposition for or against statutory marriage. Every kind of women (the educated and the disadvantaged) are found in all societies; rural as well as urban. It largely depends on the quality of the moral upbringing a woman had from her parents’ home.
It is important for Muslims to know that statutory marriage in the form it is contracted in courts lacks some of the fundamental elements of an Islamic marriage mentioned in the first paragraph of this piece. But what else, if not materialism and excessive love for this world, would move anyone to go for statutory marriage after already being married under Islamic law? Some people fault those that engage in it for being ignorant of Islam. My senior colleague at the University of Ilorin, Prof Yusuf Lanre Badmus, would rather counsel Muslim couples particularly women to learn from the life of Prophet Ibrahim (AS) whose first wife (who had not given birth) advised him to marry a second wife. Both of them, thereafter, bore children. Allahu Akbar!
Whether as a consequence of japa syndrome or not, Muslims don’t need statutory marriage because it contradicts provisions of the Shari’ah. While we encourage Imams in their weekly sermons to adequately educate their Muslim audience against this new but dangerous practice that is now ‘trending’ in Kwara state before it becomes a country-wide phenomenon, we also call on scholars and preachers to respectively use their teaching sessions and preaching activities to enlighten Muslims that statutory marriage is not the same as Islamic marriage. May Allah guide us to tame our craving desire for the temporal comforts of this world, amin.
