Flowers for the Women Wearing Veils - Volume I — Page 281
! ! 281 Marriage Customs and their Reformation Delivered by Hazrat Mirza Bashir - ud - D in Mahmud Ahmad, Khalifat - ul - Masih II ra Haz rat Sayyed Muhammad Ishaaq ra read a statement outlining marriage customs at the wedding of his daught er , Sayyeda Naseera Begum. Haz rat Khal ifa t - ul - Masih II ra addressed this statement. This speech gives guidance on principles regarding these customs. True Islam ic Teachings Concerning Marriage There are four points concerning the N ikah. Two of these are part of Islam. The first is that the N ikah must be performed with the girl’s consent and secondly, that the N ikah is publicly announced. Yet, t he other two are not part of Islam. The first is that the groom ’ s family goes to the bride ’s house and bring s back the girl. This can be practiced both ways. The groom ’ s side can bring back the bride or the bride ’ s family themselves , may take the bride to the groom’s home. In fact, it is my observation that there are many examples of wh en the bride ’ s family escorted the bride to the groom’s home. T herefore, introduc ing a new requirement into Islam , where the groom ’ s family must go and bring back the bride , is not appropriate and will introduce problems. There is no doubt that to show the bride respect, oftentimes the groom ’ s family does go to bring her. H owever, if the bride ’ s family arrive s with the bride, there is nothing improper about this. The second point is the giving of the J ah e z [dowry given by the girl’s family]. According to Islam ic Shariah , it is the man who must give something to the woman. The woman is not required to bring anything with her, and anyone who forces her to do so , has committed a grave error. Certainly, there is no harm if her parents wish to give her something , but it is not compulsory. Rather , it is unlawful for the groom to refrain from giving something. Shariah has made it mandatory for every man to set the M ehr for women. There are certain other points in Mir Sahib’s address which remain unclear to me. For instance, if relatives are to participate, they