O Son !

walî. A child or a non-Muslim can not be walî for a Muslim. One
single person can be walî or wakîl for both parties or wakîl for one
party and walî for the other or ’asîl for himself and wakîl or walî
for the other. This last case is analogous to marrying your uncle’s
little daughter by performing a nikâh, which will be sahîh by your
saying, “In your presence as witnesses, I have made so and so my
wife through a nikâh!” Acknowledgement is not required. The girl
and the man, (i.e. the would-be bride and bridegroom,) ought to
be suitable for each other, (in a suitability termed kufw,) with
respect to religious knowledgeability, taqwâ (avoiding harâms on
account of fear of Allah), genealogy, social status and wealth. If a
Sâlih Muslim’s daughter marries a fâsiq person, (i.e. a person who
commits harâms frankly and floutingly,) her walîs may refuse their
nikâh. This is the end of our translation from Ihtiyâr. If the
husband becomes fâsiq afterwards, [e.g. if he takes to alcoholic
beverages, narcotics, or playing ball games or swimming, and if
these activities causes him to expose the awrat parts of his body, or
if he ceases from performing his daily namâzes,] his wife cannot
demand a divorce (Fayziyya).
Nikâh is the only form of worship that has survived abolition
since ’Âdam ‘’alaihis-salâm’. Like any other act of worship, a
nikâh’s being sahîh requires making a niyyat as it is being
performed. That is, the couple being brought together through a
nikâh will have to pass through their hearts the niyya which says: I
am making a nikâh by following our Prophet’s sunnat and obeying
Allâhu ta’âlâ’s command. The Islamic nikâh should not be
confused with the official matrimonial proceedings directed by the
civil servant from the social states registry office. To make an
Islamic nikâh is a command of Allâhu ta’âlâ, whereas the
matrimonial proceedings are a legal requirement. The two
requirements differ both in names and in adjudications. It is a
grave sin to omit the nikâh. And it is a legal offence to detour the
matrimonial proceedings. This offence results in imprisonment. A
Muslim should avoid both the awkward situations: sinfulness and
a legal offence. A legal offence causes punishment, harm, and
fitna, all three of which are harâm. As a matter of fact, it is not
something prohibited in our religion, Islam, to get the marriage
proceedings done. Nor do the laws interdict the nikâh. The two
requirements were fulfilled in the Ottoman times as well. A decree
enacted in the (hijrî) year 1298 [1880 A.D.] said as follows: (Events
of) munâkahât, (i.e. nikâhs performed,) tawalludât (births), and
– 204 –