Impression Nikah Marriage Was Valid, in Law
Both respondents demonstrated confusion between international and domestic law when it came to marriage formalities and requirements, as explained above; compliance with the civil formalities of marriage, giving notice and getting married in a prescribed building.
Cyra and her husband were married following a two-year engagement. The marriage took place at her parents' house although Cyra reported that she would have preferred to have done it at the local mosque, which was undergoing repairs at the time. But regardless she said, it is very normal to have a nikah done at home. Following their home nikah the couple were clearly told they needed to register their marriage by the imam. On the face of it, there could be little confusing here, the couple were clearly instructed to follow an additional step, that of registration. Cyra had in fact complied with some of the civil preliminaries required of marriage prior to the nikah, however she was mistaken about the notice she had given, and hence the actions, post nikah that were still required of her and her husband. She understood, following the imam's clear statement concerning registration, that she needed to undertake a rubber-stamping (registration) of the ceremony that had taken place, and not an entirely separate and additional (civil) ceremony of marriage. As far as she was concerned, she had done her bit, now the husband needed to do his bit, post-nikah. There was a two-fold false sense of belief, firstly in what she had done and what it meant and secondly, what registration of marriage, post-nikah meant.She did all she could, giving notice for the marriage but was unable to get her husband to do the same. When pressed on this point it was revealed that she thought this notice she had given was somehow connected to her nikah ceremony, and the fact the imam had told them both, you need to ‘register' your marriage, she thought this only applied to her husband, as she has already done this by completing the form and paying the appropriate fee.
The plausibility of Cyra's explanation initially seemed doubtful however on reflection it seemed the confusion regarding post-nikah steps stemmed from the use of the word ‘register', and she did not appreciate this meant undertaking an entirely separate civil marriage ceremony, instead it was just a formality which, according to her (mis)understanding, simply required the completion of a form and payment of a small fee.
Cyra reported that her nikah marriage was witnessed by over 20 high- ranking professionals at her parents' home, and she was confused upon the realisation that it was legally valid, how can this not be legal? Following the nikah ceremony she described a lavish event organised by her parents with over 200 guests in attendance. Wedding invitations were printed and sent out, it looked like a wedding.
Dalia's marriage on the other hand took place at a wedding venue, and when she was searching for appropriate setting, she was told by the venue manager ‘we are registered for marriages'. Although Dalia did not really understand what this [legally authorised to solemnise a civil wedding] meant at the time, she took it to be a positive and thought by doing the nikah there, it would be legally binding by default. She accepted that she did not give this much thought at the time. At the time of making the wedding arrangements, the legality of marriage did not feature much in the process, although Dalia made it clear she always intended for her marriage to be legal and compliant with English law:
All the 130 guests present believed we were entering into a formal wedding ceremony and that we were married.... I signed it [the nikahnama contract] in three places but that was it. All I was concerned about was getting in the car and starting my married life as a wife.
Again Dalia's wedding was attended by a large number of guests, an imam conducted the ceremony and to all present, it looked like a wedding. At every stage of proceedings it was clear that Dalia wanted a legally binding marriage.
She made it very clear even saying during the course of our interview, had my parents realised we were not properly married, they would not have allowed me to sit next to him on the sofa, let alone have a child together! Legal validity was important not just for Dalia but her family.Furthermore it is important to note that both respondents, as well as the majority interviewed for the doctoral research, only behaved as married, that is to engage in intimate relations, following their nikah ceremonies, and not before. Complying with the law of the land was important to them.
On reflection, the narratives captured demonstrate an imbalance of power in both of these relationships. Not only was this seen during the time of the marriage, there being a somewhat clearer understanding on the husband's side about the consequences of non-registration but also as in virtually all cases, it was the husband who held the assets in his sole name.
Both these respondents were under the impression that their respective marriages were legally valid, even though their reasons for this belief differed. Dalia was under this impression due to the place where her nikah was conducted; she was told the venue was licensed to hold weddings, but she did not appreciate that such a licence only granted the celebration of civil marriages, with an appropriate person. Cyra's interchange with her local town hall lead her to believe, wrongly, that she had completed all that was required of her, and her husband must complete the same. In neither case did the respondents consider that they needed to have an entire and distinctly separate ceremony of marriage, the “civil registration”. The term civil registration is highly confusing in this context as very few respondents appreciated it to mean another wedding. And such a belief was seen in the majority of the other respondent case studies collected for the author's doctoral research.[224]
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