I have done a secret nikah with a girl (without the knowledge of our parents) who is of the same social standing as me. I proposed her by saying “I am making my Nikah with you, do you accept?” in Urdu language three times and she said “I accept” three times. This happened in front of two adult and sane Muslim brothers. They knew that they are there to be witness of our Nikah. We decided to fix the Mahr amount and pay it in future times, when we do Nikah with the knowledge of our parents. The witnesses clearly understood that we accepted each other as husband and wife and they agreed that they witnessed the ceremony. We strongly believe that our nikah is valid. However, please confirm to us in the light of Hanafi School of Thoughts.
Answer:
(Fatwa: 1628/1628/M=1432)
In the question mentioned above, if you and the girl were present in the same meeting and the ijab-o-qubool of nikah (proper exchange of nikah words) was done in the presence of two witnesses then the nikah was valid. However, you did not do good by performing nikah without informing your parents.
Allah (Subhana Wa Ta’ala) knows Best
Darul Ifta,
Darul Uloom Deoband