Marriage In Islam

In Islam, marriage is a legal contract between a man and a woman. Both the groom and the bride are to consent to the marriage of their own free wills. A formal, binding contract – verbal or on paper – is considered integral to a religiously valid Islamic marriage, and outlines the rights and responsibilities of the groom and bride. Divorce in Islam can take a variety of forms, some executed by a husband personally and some executed by a religious court on behalf of a plaintiff wife who is successful in her legal divorce petition for valid cause.

Terminology
In Islamic law, marriage – or more specifically, the marriage contract – is called nikah, an Arabic word whose original literal meaning was "sexual intercourse", but which already in the Quran is used exclusively to refer to the contract of marriage. In the Wehr-Cowan Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic, nikah is defined as "marriage; marriage contract; matrimony, wedlock". (At least in some marriages in some Muslim cultures such as Pakistan, there may be a delay between the nikkah and the rukhsati—when the husband, having obtained a good job and home, has the wife move in with him).

History
In Arabia before the advent of Islam in the 7th century CE, a variety of different marriage practices existed. The most common and recognized types of marriage at this time consisted of: marriage by agreement, marriage by capture, marriage by mahr, marriage by inheritance and "Mot'a" or temporary marriage. In Mesopotamia, marriages were generally monogamous, except among royalty, who would have harems consisting of wives and concubines. The Sasanian society followed Zoroastrianism, which viewed women to be possessions in marriage, although consent was required in both marriage and divorce.

Conditions
Islamic marriages require acceptance, in Arabic: قُبُوْل‎ qubūl, of the groom, the bride and the consent of the custodian (wali) of the bride. The wali of the bride is normally a male relative of the bride, preferably her father. The wali can only be a free Muslim, unless the bride is of the Christian or Jewish faith; in such cases the bride should be given away by someone from her religious background. The bride is normally present at the signing of the marriage contract.

The Walī mujbir (وَلِي مُجْبِر) is a technical term of Islamic law which denotes the guardian of a bride. In traditional Islam, the literal definition of "wali", which means "custodian" or "protector", is used. In this context, it is meant that the silence of the bride is considered consent. In most schools of Islamic law, only the father or the paternal grandfather of the bride can be wali mujbir.

Marriage Contracts
The marriage contract is concluded between the wali (guardian) of the bride and the bridegroom and bride. The wali of the bride can only be a free Muslim. The wali of the bride is normally a male relative of the bride, preferably her father. According to most scholars, if the bride is a virgin, the wali mujbir can not force the bride into the marriage against her proclaimed will. Furthermore, according to Khomeini and Ali al-Sistani, both of whom are Shi'ite scholars (having the degrees mujtahid and marja'), and also almost all contemporary scholars, the marriage is invalid without bride's free consent and no obligation can make marriage official and legal.