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Fatwa CenterMarriage witnesses
Question
My fiance and I, want to marry soon. Our problem is that we cannot announce our marriage among our community because of very complicated financial and social circumstances, and also we cannot move to another community that soon. My fiance has three sons males of ages 27, 24, and 17 and two daughters. All of them are accepting our marriage. Is it correct for us to be married Islamicly to make her sons witnesses or do we need other two witnesses other than her sons? What should we do to fulfill the halal condition of the announcement? Is it enough as an announcement in Islam legislation to have only two witnesses? Please I really need to be in Allah's satisfaction and we really need to marry soon. What we should do?
Answer
Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds; and blessings and peace be upon our Prophet Muhammad and upon all his Family and Companions.
In Islam the marriage contract is comprised of many important features. In Islam marriage is a grand religious ceremony. In Islam getting married is a form of worship. So, anyone who does so is rewarded. The marriage act results in lawfulness of sexual intercourse between spouses, the obligation of paying a Mahr (dowry money given to the new wife) and of paying expenditure to the wife, lineage of children, inheritance…. etc. So, due to its importance in human life Allah has established clear rules and conditions for marriage as to safe guard it from doubtful matters. One of these conditions is the presence of two witnesses who could be referred to in settling disputes between the husband and the wife.
The majority of the scholars believe that these two witnesses should not be the children of the wife or the husband, because the testimony can be denied or rejected, and because their testimony may be biased for or against either parent.
So, we advise you, dear brother/sister to make your marriage public and not limit the witnesses to your wife's/husband's children. You should look for two other witnesses to attend the marriage act as to make your marriage valid and without doubtful issues.
Allah knows best.
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