RULES OF COHABITATION IN ISLAMIC JURISPRUDENCE A COMPARATIVE STUDY WITH DIGO CUSTOMS IN THE REPUBLIC OF KENYA

Abstract

It is very common to find Digo community practice cohabitation marriage without involving guardian, witness and dowry payment. And the reason for this is that the processes for formal marriage are very complicated and expensive at the sometime. The local Muslims scholars have different opinions regarding this kind of marriage. Both qualitative and quantitative research methods were used to collect data on the investigated domains. The data collected via questionnaire were analysed using SPSS software. Observation method was implemented in order to minimize any shortcoming from mixed methods. The respondents involved were 150 including spouses, council of elders, preachers and imam. The main findings of this study is that paramour marriage is an act of adultery and un-Islamic since it does not fulfill pillar and conditions of Islamic marriage