Secret marriage

Mu' meneen Brothers and Sisters,

As Salaam Aleikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh. (May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be upon all of you)

One of our brothers/sisters has asked this question:

I recently got to know that my friend got married in secret and she is afraid that her marriage might be invalid. She got married by having one male witness (who was very young but had experienced ehtilam and was therefore balegh and he new what he was witnessing) og two female witnesses. The mahr was agreed on in the presence of the witnesses. They were all clear on the fact that the girl and the man wanted to marry each other and accepted each other as wife and husband by saying zawajtuki nafsi (I marry you myself). They wrote everywthing down on a paper and signed it. There were no legal guardian present during the nikah. My friend have not had sex with the man yet. Is the marriage valid? 

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Answer:

Secret marriage

In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and whoever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We bear witness that there is none worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that Muhammad (saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.

Allah Says in the Holy Quran Chapter 5 Surah Maidah verse 5:

5 …. (Lawful unto you in marriage) are (not only) chaste women who are believers but chaste women among the People of the Book revealed before your time when ye give them their due dowers and desire chastity, not lewdness nor secret intrigues. If anyone rejects faith fruitless is his work and in the Hereafter he will be in the ranks of those who have lost (all spiritual good).

Respected Brother, the guidance of Islam Commands and Demands that the believers marry desiring chastity, not lewdness and secret intrigues! It is only those who are inclined towards the heinous and abomination of the evil of ‘zina’ who develop lewd and secret intrigues; for the sacred institution of marriage in Islam is a public affair whereby one is guided and commanded to openly declare one’s sacred association of marriage to the society one lives in by offering the ‘walima’ or marriage banquet or feast. To marry one secretly without informing one’s loved and dear ones is to make a complete mockery of the sacred institution of marriage!

For a ‘marriage’ or the ‘nikaah’ contract to be lawful and acceptable in the Sight of Shariah Law and of Allah Subhanah, the following four absolutely obligatory conditions of an Islamic ‘nikaah’ have to fulfilled:

1. Proposal by one party and acceptance by the other.
2. The determination of ‘mehr’ for the bride.
3. The availability of at least two witnesses to the marriage contract.
4. The consent of the parents/guardians of the bride to the marriage contract.

As much as it would be against piety, righteousness, and behavior becoming of a muslim to marry secretly without informing or the participation of their near and loved ones, if one has fulfilled all the above listed four obligatory conditions of an Islamic marriage, their marriage itself will be considered lawful in the Sight of Shariah Law.

If any of the above listed obligatory conditions of the ‘nikaah’ were not honored or violated, the ‘marriage’ will be null and void and have absolutely no legal status in the Sight of Shariah Law.

Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me alone. Allah Alone Knows Best and He is the Only Source of Strength.

Your brother and well wisher in Islam,

Burhan