If the legal marriage contract is completed with its conditions but not registered administratively, and then she is married to another man, is the first contract a legal marriage, and what is the ruling on the second?

The questioner : A brother asks: The conditions of the marriage contract are the guardian's consent or approval, along with witnesses and the like. However, in the custom of people today, a written contract is required for the marriage contract to be completed. A real incident occurred where a man proposed to a woman, her family agreed, there were witnesses and the like, but a few days later they apologized and married the woman to another man. Is that agreement, with the naming of the contract and the presence of witnesses, a legal marriage? And what is the ruling on the subsequent marriage?

The Shaykh : Yes, before answering, I draw your attention to the factThe questioner : that he repeated the phrase "and the like" twice in his question. This addition must be removed from his question. In order to understand the correction, I ask that the question be repeated, because it is an incorrect question!

The questioner : The question is: Are the guardian and two witnesses conditions of the marriage contract, and does the custom of people today require a written contract?

The Shaykh : No, this is not it, if we listen to the recording, because the question stated that the conditions of the legal contract are the guardian's approval and the two witnesses, and the like?

The questioner : We crossed it out, our Shaykh...

The Shaykh : ... This is our book, which speaks the truth. The phrase "and the like" was repeated. So, from the perspective of precision in the question, and consequently the answer that follows from it, I wanted to mention this, because there is nothing in the Shari'ah other than the guardian's permission, or as he himself said,The questioner : As for anything else, there is nothing besides that. Based on this, if a young man contracts a marriage with a woman with the guardian's permission or approval, and with two just witnesses, this is a legal marriage. As for registering it in the Shari'ah court, as is the custom, first, we see no objection to it. This is only from the perspective of unrestricted public interest and preserving rights due to the corruption of some people and their denial of legal facts. Registering this contract in the Shari'ah court is like registering a house sale contract in the land department. Any contract concluded between Muslims in a sale, even if this customary contract is not registered in the land department regarding land, for example, or real estate, or a legal contract, it is not permissible for either of the contracting parties to renege on what they contracted. Whoever reneges has reneged and violated the Shari'ah. Similarly, regarding the marriage contract, what came in the question is that Zayd contracted a marriage with the guardian's approval and with witnesses, but this contract was not registered in the Shari'ah court. They considered this contract void and married the girl to another husband. This second contract is invalid. Even if he contracted a legal and a legalistic contract, it is an invalid contract because it is a contract with a woman who is already contracted to another by a legal marriage. It is never possible to place custom in the place of the Shari'ah. The custom today is generally that the legal contract must be registered in the Shari'ah court, but this does not mean that the legal contract is invalid and non-effective until it becomes a legalistic contract. At that point, we would fall into a problem that some jurists raised in the past, and which still exists in many countries: that the contract between the spouses is a legalistic contract and not a legal marriage contract, especially in the lands of disbelief. We say, insisting on preserving the ruling of the Shari'ah, which is His saying (peace and blessings be upon him) . So a man may conclude this legal contract, and it may not be approved in the legal system followed today in the Shari'ah courts for one reason or another. If an application for approval were submitted, it would be rejected. However, the Shari'ah court itself, in many incidents and cases that occur contrary to its system, when it is informed that so-and-so has contracted a marriage with so-and-so, is forced to register this contract, even though it is contrary to their system. This indicates that, praise be to Allah, they still maintain that the original is the legal contract, and the contract in the court is a matter of precaution and safeguarding, as I said earlier. This is the answer to the question, if Allah wills.

The questioner : May Allah reward you with good.

The Shaykh : And beware of that.

Another questioner : Is the announcement a condition in the contract?

The Shaykh : May Allah forgive you. We have been going around the error of our brother so that you do not fall into this error of yours!