Fundamentals of Valid Marriage in Islamic Law: An Evaluation of Muslim Practices in Nigeria

Abstract

It is a well-known fact that, Islamic Law (Shari‘ah) is a complete code of life, which regulates every facet of human endeavors. This is more so with regards to the principles laid down under it to regulate the life of a Muslim family. Thus, for a marriage to be valid under the Shari‘ah, certain requirements must be met. These requirements, though very sacrosanct, are not in any way rigid or burdensome. However, the new trend is that a lot of changes have been introduced in this 21st century to frustrate these requirements, culminating in flagrant abuse of them in various modes. This paper critically appraises the legal requirements of a valid marriage under the Shari‘ah in comparison with the marriage practices among the Muslims in Nigeria. A special attention is given the pre-marriage steps laid down under the Shari‘ah vis-à-vis the popular practice of pre-marriage courtship in the Western world practice has also been embraced by Muslims in the country. The newly introduced and well pronounced celebration of marriage with highly expensive ceremonies as a requirement of marriage among the Nigerian Muslims is equally assessed on the scale of Islamic Law. This study adopts the doctrinal research methodology and jurisprudentially combs all the relevant materials, textually and contextually.