In the United Kingdom, Nikkah is no more regarded as a valid marriage ceremony. The Court of Appeal overturned two years ago a previous decision that made it a valid form of marriage.
It was agreed in a divorce with the involvement of Nasreen Akhter and Mohammed Shabaz Khan, who entered the Nikkah marriage in 1998. In the presence of an imam and 150 guests, there was no other civil ceremony than the Nikkah.
The couple separated in 2016, with Mohammad Shahbaz contesting to block his wife’s divorce petition saying that they had not been legally married. The case was heard in the Family Division of the High Court in 2018, where the husband argued that they had married “under Sharia law only”.
On the other hand, Nasreen Akhter argued that she was entitled to the same legal protection and settlement as offered to other married couples. Back then, Justice Willaim ruled that the marriage falls under the scope of the 1973 Matrimonial Causes Act, therefore, it should be treated like any other marriage contract in the UK.
Attorney General later appealed against the original decision, as the Appeal Court ruled the wedding as a ‘non-qualifying ceremony’ because it hadn’t taken place in a registered building for weddings. The decision on Friday also said that there was no registrar present during the wedding and no certificate was issued to the two parties.
Both Nasreen Akhter and Mohammed Shabaz Khan did not take any part in appeal proceedings.
this situation making a sense that Muslims in UK must have civil marriages like Christians and other religions along with nikkah ceremony.
