Seadet-i Ebediyye - Endless Bliss Fifth Fascicle

presence of a man, it will be permissible if the girl, too, is present.
For the statements made by the walî (the father) or the wakîl will
have been made by the girl. The walî or the wakîl will have acted
as a witness. If a man says to someone, ‘Have you given your
daughter as a wife to me?’ and if the latter says, ‘Yes, I have,’ or,
‘I have given her as a wife to you,’ the nikâh will not have been
effected. The former will have to say again, ‘I have accepted.’ For,
his first expression was in question form. A wakîl cannot be
authorized in question form. However, if his first statement is,
‘Give your daughter as a wife to me!’ the nikâh will have been
effected. For, he will have authorized the latter as his wakîl
through the imperative form. This wakîl’s answer will have been
made in the name of both parties and therefore the nikâh will have
been accomplished if two witnesses are present, too. If the wakîl
says the name of the girl’s father wrong, the nikâh will not be
sahîh. If a man sends several people (to act as his deputies) to
marry him to a girl, if one of them makes the proposal to the girl’s
father and the girl’s father, or her walî, accepts the proposal, it will
be sahîh. For, the person who has made the proposal has been the
wakîl and the others have been witnesses.
“If a man makes someone his wakîl by saying to him, ‘Go as my
deputy and ask so and so’s daughter so and so to marry me for so
much mahr (saying the amount of mahr),’ and if the wakîl makes
the proposal by offering an amount of money more than the mahr
(ordered by the former), it will not be necessary to pay the excess,
too. The former may consent to pay the extra amount if he likes.
Or he may cancel the nikâh if he likes. If he is informed after the
marriage ceremony and then cancels the nikâh, he will have to give
‘Mahr-i-mithl.’ A nikâh that is performed by saying that ‘Allâhu
ta’âlâ and His Messenger ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallâm’ are
witnesses’ will not be sahîh. There are even scholars who say that
it is disbelief.”
It is stated as follows in Majmû’a-i-zuhdiyya: If a man, in the
presence of two male witnesses, writes on a piece of paper, “I have
taken you as my wife,” and if the girl writes, “I have accepted
(your proposal),” the nikâh will not have been effected. They have
to say it (verbally). If a girl reads to the witnesses a letter that says,
“I have taken you as my wife,” and which has been written by a
man who is absent, and then says, “I have accepted,” the nikâh will
have been effected. It would have been effected even if she had
said that she had accepted the proposal after explaining to the
witnesses what was written in the letter instead of reading it aloud
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