Marriage is a religious institution and has certain conditions. If the same conditions and principles are present in the official marriage, which is carried out by an officer authorized by the municipality, then that marriage is a religious marriage, too. However, if the conditions and principles are not taken into attention and are neglected, then it is different; the marriage may then be overshadowed. That's as follows:

In the official marriage, couples to get married profess their expressions about getting married clearly. However, those expressions must indicate certainty. They must not be ambiguous. Another important point is that witnesses must be Muslims and one of the witnesses must be a man. However, in the secular procedure, it is enough for the witness to belong to the nationality of the country. The marrying parties must not be brother and sister of milk (If the mother of one of the parties had given her milk to the other party when suckling,then they are considered as brother and sister of milk.) However, that is not inquired in official marriage, nor is asked by the officer.

A Muslim woman cannot marry a non-Muslim man. However, that is not paid attention to in the current legislation, and the officer performs the marriage without asking about it.

If those drawbacks are not in question, couples are religiously lawful to each other with only the official marriage, too. Actually, the requisite of marriage is both parties' accepting each other as husband and wife in the presence of two witnesses.

However, all that said, one should not neglect having the contract of marriage carried out within Islamic measures.

Mehmed Paksu

Aileye Özel Fetvalar