Does a marriage contract take place through acting?
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The questioner : Does a marriage contract in the context of acting take place?
The Shaykh : Yes, if the conditions of the Shari'ah contract are met, it takes place; because the correct of the two opinions of the scholars is that joking in marriage, divorce, and freeing a slave is effective and binding. So if the conditions are met, the marriage is realized whether they intended it or not. I remember clearly, when I was in Damascus about twenty years ago, a female employee called me, and this is one of the misfortunes of female employees in government offices. She said, and what she said was bad, that she had a colleague who had become a male and female colleague, so she would meet him in her work in her job, in the same room, and she would say from one word to another, "Will you marry me? I will marry you myself..." and so on, under the pretext of what? She said and claimed it was for the sake of joking. Before I issued a ruling for her and answered her with the answer you just heard, I gave her an introduction, the summary of which was a warning against women mixing with men in their work, especially in such government offices that do not adhere to the rulings of the Shari'ah. After that, I said that one of the results of this mixing that occurs between male and female employees is that a danger may occur, which may be the greatest danger, the major sin, which is zina (unlawful sexual intercourse), or something less than that. And you are now on the verge of falling into a problem; because the Shari'ah says that a marriage that takes place through non-serious joking is binding. But I do not think this contract and this marriage that took place between you and your colleague was, for example, with your guardian present, I do not imagine this matter, and there were witnesses. She said: Yes, so we said this is what saved you from becoming the wife of this man, otherwise if the acting had continued with the presence of the other conditions being met, without doubt the marriage would be binding, but in reality, these conditions may not be fully and completely met, in which case the contract would be invalid and have no validity. And even if such a thing is, of course, not permissible either, because it entails evils that are not hidden from everyone.
Abu Malik: It does not actually take place; because her guardian is absent, ... present only in the sense of acting.
The Shaykh : Yes, you are correct.
The Shaykh : Yes, if the conditions of the Shari'ah contract are met, it takes place; because the correct of the two opinions of the scholars is that joking in marriage, divorce, and freeing a slave is effective and binding. So if the conditions are met, the marriage is realized whether they intended it or not. I remember clearly, when I was in Damascus about twenty years ago, a female employee called me, and this is one of the misfortunes of female employees in government offices. She said, and what she said was bad, that she had a colleague who had become a male and female colleague, so she would meet him in her work in her job, in the same room, and she would say from one word to another, "Will you marry me? I will marry you myself..." and so on, under the pretext of what? She said and claimed it was for the sake of joking. Before I issued a ruling for her and answered her with the answer you just heard, I gave her an introduction, the summary of which was a warning against women mixing with men in their work, especially in such government offices that do not adhere to the rulings of the Shari'ah. After that, I said that one of the results of this mixing that occurs between male and female employees is that a danger may occur, which may be the greatest danger, the major sin, which is zina (unlawful sexual intercourse), or something less than that. And you are now on the verge of falling into a problem; because the Shari'ah says that a marriage that takes place through non-serious joking is binding. But I do not think this contract and this marriage that took place between you and your colleague was, for example, with your guardian present, I do not imagine this matter, and there were witnesses. She said: Yes, so we said this is what saved you from becoming the wife of this man, otherwise if the acting had continued with the presence of the other conditions being met, without doubt the marriage would be binding, but in reality, these conditions may not be fully and completely met, in which case the contract would be invalid and have no validity. And even if such a thing is, of course, not permissible either, because it entails evils that are not hidden from everyone.
Abu Malik: It does not actually take place; because her guardian is absent, ... present only in the sense of acting.
The Shaykh : Yes, you are correct.
Source
www.al-albany.com
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.