Registering marriage officially in Britain

Question: 7714

I
live in England a country once know to be a Christian nation, but today it
is a completely secular country with no state religion, furthermore nearly
all ceremonies are carried without invoking the name of Allah.My question is

that if a Muslim couple marry
in one of this country’s registration marriage offices, for the purpose
of being recognised by the state as a married couple would it be
considered a valid nikah despite it being conducted by a
kafir
and without Allah (SWT) name being mentioned?

Answer

Praise be to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah and his family.

There are four essentials in the marriage ceremony (nikaah), as stated in the following guidelines:

“Any marriage ceremony in which four people – the husband, the (wife’s) guardian and two witnesses – are not present, is null and void.”

And the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “There is no nikaah except with a walee (guardian) and two witnesses.” (See question #2127).

If the wife is Muslim and the husband is Muslim, the walee must also be Muslim, because a kaafir cannot be the walee of a Muslim. The person who is in charge of the Muslims’ affairs in that country can take the place of a walee. The marriage contract must be conducted in accordance with the Islamic sharee’ah, then there is nothing wrong with confirming it through official channels in order to prevent any problems and avoid any embarrassment.May Allaah bless our Prophet Muhammad.

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Source:

Sheikh Muhammed Salih Al-Munajjid