Q: I just want to know my boyfriend and I sat down together, we made wudhu, he said he accepts me as his wife 3 times, I said I accept him as my husband 3 times. He offered maher and on the speaker phone, three men were listening, after they heard all this, they read dua for nikah. I thought my boyfriend didn’t know that these men were listening but he said he suspected that people were listening. Is this considered as nikah? He his married and therefore didn’t want witnesses to see him. He said he will marry me and Allah will be our witness. I knew that was not considered as nikah so I arranged for these 3 men to listen via speaker phone without telling my boyfriend they were listening. I know it was wrong what I did. But he says he knew people were listening when we were saying we accept each other. Are we in nikah? After a few weeks he told me he’s not accepting this as nikah. But I just need to know, am I his wife?
A: In order for the nikaah to be valid, it is a requirement that a offer as well as an acceptance be found in the same gathering in the presence of at least two male baaligh sane muslims or one male and two female baaligh sane muslims. Since there were no witnesses present in the same gathering, the nikaah is not valid.
And Allah Ta’ala (الله تعالى) knows best.
قال ولا ينعقد نكاح المسلمين إلا بحضور شاهدين حرين عاقلين بالغين مسلمين رجلين أو رجل وامرأتين عدولا كانوا أو غير عدول أو محدودين في القذف قال رضي الله عنه اعلم أن الشهادة شرط في باب النكاح لقوله عليه الصلاة والسلام لا نكاح إلا بشهود (هداية 2/306)
Answered by:
Mufti Zakaria Makada
Checked & Approved:
Mufti Ebrahim Salejee (Isipingo Beach)