Marriage Contract Page 13
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16Marriage Contract
OPTIONAL
CONDITIONS
IN
AN
ISLAMIC
MARRIAGE
CONTRACT
BY SAYYID MUHAMMAD RIZVI
Marriage: A Legal Contract
Since marriage is a binding contract (‘aqd) in the Islamic laws (the shari‘a), it
depends on three essential conditions:
1. the proposal from the bride;
2. and the acceptance from the groom;
3. and the mahr.
Mahr means the consideration that the groom agrees to give to the bride.
(See 4:4) It is the right of the bride and it is for her to specify or fix the mahr.
The groom may either accept it or negotiate with her until they reach to an
agreement. Mahr is not a price being paid for the lady; it does not mean
buying a wife. It is a symbolic gesture of man’s true love for the woman
whom he intends to marry. It doesn’t have to be monetary or material; it can
even be a service (e.g., teaching the Qur’an or provided for higher education
or paying for the hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca, etc). Moreover, the mahr can
be immediate or deferred or partly immediate and partly deferred as agreed
by both parties. Besides the three conditions mentioned above, there are no
more essential conditions attached to the Islamic marriage contract.
Optional Conditions
However, like any other contract (‘aqd), there is room for optional conditions
in the marriage contract as well. The concept of optional conditions is not an
innovation or “a revolutionary concept;” it has existed in the shari‘a laws from
the earliest days. Of course, its application in marriage contract has gained
popularity in modern times. Shi‘i scholars of the early days of ghaybat, like
Shaykh at-Tusi (d. 460 AH) in his an-Nihãyah, al-Khilãf and al- Mabsut, as
well as of the later days, like Sayyid Muhsin al-Hakim (d. 1969) in Minhãju ’s-
Sãlihiyn, have discussed the concept of “shart dhimn al-‘aqd – a condition
attached to the contract.” Even the marriage contracts of India and Pakistan
had provision for “sã’ir shurut—other conditions” which, nonetheless, was left
blank by most couples.
By looking at the problems facing Muslims of our time, the contemporary
mujtahidin have started highlighting the issue of optional conditions in the
marriage contract. In the Islamic Republic of Iran, for example, marriage
certificate comes in a booklet form with optional conditions printed within it for
the bride and the groom to sign on the dotted lines after each condition if they
wish to include it in their marriage contract.
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