5-Endless Bliss Fifth Fascicle - Hakikat Kitabevi

nikâh. A Muslim who is to get married should first apply to
marriage registration office and have the necessary legal
proceedings completed, having it registered in his identity
certificate that he is married. After the legal procedures are
completed, the Islamic nikâh is performed before the wedding
party. Thus the commandment of Allâhu ta’âlâ is carried out. He
who does not perform a marriage agreeably with laws will have
committed an offence. And he who does not perform an Islamic
nikâh will become sinful. A person who ignores these facts will
deserve the severest punishments. A Muslim should not violate
laws or commit sins. To incur punishment by violating laws is a
sin in itself.
Following is a procedure of nikâh which the Ottomans in
Istanbul used to follow:
The person to perform the nikâh would first write the name
of the wife, e.g. Fâtima bint-i-Ahmad. Then he would write the
name of the wife’s wakîl, let us say, Alî bin Zayd. Then he would
write the names of the two male witnesses. Next he would write
the name of the husband, for instance, ’Umar bin Huseyn. The
next stage would be to write the name of the husband’s wakîl if
the husband was absent. Then, asking both parties, he would
write the amount of the mahr they had agreed on in the name of
mahr-i-mu’ejjel. Then he would say the (prayer called) istighfâr
and say the A’udhu and the Basmala, which would be followed
by the following prayer: “Al-hamdu li’llâh-illezî zawwaj-al arwâha
bi’l eshbâh wa ahall-an-nikâha wa harram-as-si-fâh. Wa-ssalâtu
wa-s-selâmu ’alâ rasûlinâ Muhammadin-illezî bayyana-lharâma
wa-l-mubâh wa ’alâ Âlihi wa Ashâbih-illezîne hum ahlus-salâhi
wa-l-felâh.” Then, saying the A’ûdhu and the Basmala,
he would recite the thirty-second âyat of Nûr sûra. Saying,
“Sadaqallâhul ’azîm,” he would go on, “Qâla Rasûlullah ’sall-
Allâhu alaihi wa-sallam,” ‘An-nikâhu sunnati faman raghiba
an sunnatî fa-laysa minnî’, sadaqa Rasûlullah. Bismillâhi wa
alâ sunnati Rasûlillah.” Then he would say, “With the blessed
commandment of Allâhu ta’âlâ and upon the sunnat-i-seniyya of
our Prophet and master hadrat Muhammadan-il-Mustafâ and
following the ijtihâd of hadrat Imâm a’zam Abû Hanîfa, who is
the imâm of our Madh-hab in a’mâl (deeds, worships), and with
the testimony of the Muslims present here, have you given
Fâtima bint-i-Ahmad, whom you deputize, as a wife to ’Umar bin
Huseyn, her suitor, in return for the mahr-i-mu’ejjel of .... gold
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