The Form of the Marriage Contract

Please explain to us the formula of the marriage contract in detail; because the people among us call it the "Fatiha" and they know nothing about it? May Allah reward you with good.
Answer: The marriage contract is for the guardian—his father or his brother, the closest of his 'asabah (residuary male heirs), and the closest of them is the father, then the son, then the full brother, then the brother on the father's side... and so on—to say to the husband: "I have married you to my daughter," if she is his daughter, or "my sister," if she is his sister, or "my mother," if she is his mother. He says, "I have married you to so-and-so, my daughter, or my mother, or my sister." And he [the husband] says, "I accept this marriage." This is the form of the contract. He [the guardian] says, "I have married you," or "I have given you possession of her," or "I have gifted you her." That suffices, even if he says, "I have gifted you her." The important thing is the meaning. Or he says, "I have given you possession of her" in any language they understand, and the guardian says it. And the husband says, "I accept this marriage," or "I accept this marriage and I am pleased with it." If he says to you, "The contract is complete," provided that the wife is free from the impediments and the husband is free from the impediments.
If there is an impediment, such as the wife being a mahram (a relative one may not marry) or the husband being a mahram, the marriage is not valid. Or if she is in the state of ihram (the consecrated state of pilgrimage), or if she is in the 'iddah (the waiting period after divorce or widowhood), having not yet exited the 'iddah of the husband who divorced her or who died, then the marriage is not valid. Or if the husband is a disbeliever and she is a Muslim woman, the marriage is not valid. It is necessary for the conditions to be present and the impediments to be absent. If the conditions are present and the impediments are absent, the guardian says to the husband: "I have married you to my daughter, or my sister, or my mother..." or the like. And the husband says: "I accept." This is done in the presence of two just witnesses who testify to this contract.
So the contract is attended by four: the husband, the guardian, and the two witnesses.
And it is better that there be a sermon before it, the sermon of the marriage. This is the better course, and it is: "Indeed, praise is to Allah. We praise Him, seek His help, and seek His forgiveness. And we seek refuge in Allah from the evils of our souls and from the bad of our deeds. Whom Allah guides, there is no one who can misguide him, and whom He misguides, there is no one who can guide him. And I bear witness that there is no deity but Allah alone, with no partner for Him. And I bear witness that Muhammad is His slave and His Messenger." Then he recites His saying, the Exalted: [Al Imran: 102], [An Nisa: 1], and His saying, the Blessed and Exalted: [Al Ahzab: 70-71]. After this, he says: "I have married you." The guardian says this, and the husband says: "I accept." After this sermon. This sermon is a sunnah (recommended practice); it is mustahabb (recommended) for the guardian to recite it, or for the husband to recite it, or for one of the witnesses or someone else present to recite it, or for the mu'adhdhin (the one who calls to prayer) at whom they marry, or the judge at whom they marry, to recite it. If one of the attendees recites it—the husband, or the guardian, or the mu'adhdhin, or one of the witnesses—the requirement is fulfilled.
It is called the sermon of need, but it is not a condition. If he says, "I have married you," and the husband says, "I accept," and he does not deliver the sermon, there is no harm; the marriage is valid, provided it is in the presence of the witnesses, and the conditions are present and the impediments are absent. So praise be to Allah. But they left the better course. The better course is for the contract to be after this sermon that you heard. Yes.
The presenter: May Allah reward you with good, and may He do you good.