MARRIAGE is a happy occasion for the bride/groom. The parties involved usually make elaborate arrangements to make the event memorable. They spend a lot of money and other resources for this.

However, amidst the festivities, one must understand the importance of the nikahnama, which makes the marriage a legal contract.

Marriage establishes a contractual relationship between two adult persons, a male and a female. The nikahnama legally formalises this relationship.

Most people enter this marriage contract at least once in life. The impact of this contract is not limited to one`s private life; it is tied with other matters like dower, maintenance, inheritance of property, status on identity cards, and many others. As numerous rights and responsibilities emerge as the result of matrimony, the marriage contract needs to be efficient and effective in guarding against possible disputes or infringement of the rights of the parties involved.

Nikahnama is a crucial document.

Although Islam does not require a written document for the solemnisation or validity of marriage, it does encourage documentation of important life-related matters. Thus, it is also an important proof of marriage.

Before the creation of Pakistan, marriages were mostly performed informally without writing in areas that presently form the country. A senior family member or some respected local dignitary like the qazi or aalim used to perform the nikah.

This ceremony centred on recitation of selected verses from the Holy Quran, ahadith and prayers. There was no document like nikahnama prepared at that time.

However, the need of documenting marriage proceedings was always felt as disputes relating to marriages would occur.

These needed to be amicably settled.

In the initial years of Pakistan`s existence, certain women`s organisations, particularly the All Pakistan Women`s Association (Apwa), undertook the task of making women aware of their basic human dignity and lobbying for their greater participation in public life and for reforms in Muslim family laws. Activists felt particularly concerned about the misuse of polygamy and ralaq rights exercised by men. What gave their movement for reform of Muslim personal law an added impetus was the second marriage of the then prime minister, Mohammad Ali Bogra in 1955 who, still legally married to his first wife, contracted a second marriage. The first wife of the prime minister opposed his second marriage.

Apwa took up the cause of the first wife and organised a countrywide agitation protesting against the prime minister`s secondmarriage and demanding the reform of Muslim family laws. After years of deliberations and struggle at the national level, the government promulgated an ordinance in 1961 making it mandatory for marrying parties to fill the nikahnama before marriage.

The nikahnama has 25 entries. These require basic information about the parties (bride and groom) marrying and their witnesses. However, it is observed that in many areas, especially the rural areas, there is no concept of the nikahnama and marriages are still performed informally without filling and signing the document. Further, if the nikahnama is prepared, then most of these entries are left unfilled or struck out.

It is not fully understood by the marrying parties nor is its importance realised.

The form of nikahnama was designed over 60 years ago. It needs review and modifications as per changes that have occurred during the last six decades. The nikahnama form also needs some additional entriespertaining to CNIC number, nikah performed over telephone or the internet as well as pertaining to the marital position of the groom (single, married, divorcee), etc. The entries regarding a wali(guardian, columns seven and nine) may also need review as the groom and bride who are both of marriageable age can conduct marriages of their own will and do not require the services of a wali.

Besides, the nikahnama should also contain detail of pre-wedding medical tests whichmodernmedicalsciencehas declared essential before the marriage is performed.

Medical tests are necessary to help reduce the birth of disabled babies.

Though nikahnama is an important and lifelong document, unfortunately, it is printed on paper of the poorest quality and of an unwieldy size. Therefore, it is tattered within a few years. It is difficult to scan or copy. It should be printed on A4 size paper comparable in quality to university degrees, etc. I have seen marriage certificates of other countries that look impressive.

Further, the nikahnama should be redesigned for computerised records so that the same can be linked to the Nadra database.

At present, there are frequent disputes and court cases about the authenticity of marriage. • The wnter is an educationist with an interest in religion.

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