A Guide To Understanding Invalid Marriages (Nikah) in Islam

If certain conditions are not met, the marriage is either unofficial or invalid, which leads to consequences in either case.

There are three types of scenarios when it comes to the validity of Islamic marriage contracts.

• Valid Muslim Marriage (Sahih)

• Invalid Muslim Marriage (Batil)
• Unofficial Muslim Marriage (Fasid)

1 – Valid Muslim Marriages (Sahih Nikah): Meeting All Requirements

This is the normal case. A valid marriage is one that meets the conditions for entering into a marriage, as well as the prohibitions and ethical values of Muslim law. It is a proper marriage from a religious and legal perspective and it results in all the usual effects of an Islamic marriage.

Learn more from our example of a Muslim wedding ceremony you can follow – Simple-to-Follow Muslim Wedding Ceremonies.

2 – Degrees of Invalidity (Batil & Fasid Nikah): When a Marriage is Not Recognized in Islam

a) Absolutely Invalid Marriages (Batil Nikah) In Islam: Cannot Be Rectified

A Muslim marriage is considered absolutely invalid in certain cases. It is invalid when one of the four conditions necessary for forming a marriage contract or making it valid are incomplete or lacking (consent, dower, guardian or witnesses).

Permanent and temporary impediments to certain kinds of marriages must also be respected. 

When a marriage is invalid, it is considered never to have existed. It is not necessary for a legal decision or a repudiation to have taken place for the marriage to be declared null and void.

Repudiation is, therefore, not necessary since the bond of marriage does not exist. 

The spouses should then separate from one another, automatically and without any other formality.

When a marriage is invalid, there is no right to inheritance and it does not create any impediment if it has not been consummated. If the marriage has been consummated, that creates an impediment to marriage between the partners and their ancestors and descendants. 

In any case, absolute invalidity (Nikah batil) cannot be rectified or tolerated, regardless of whether the marriage has been consummated or not.

There may be small differences between the Sunni schools.

In most cases, when a marriage is invalid, it is absolutely invalid (Nikah batil) but there are also a small number of relative causes of invalidity.

As a general rule, a relative invalidity is covered by consummation of the marriage, which then becomes valid. For example, the Maliki school considers witnesses’ lack of capacity to fall under relative invalidity.

The Hanafi school, on the other hand, believes that a temporary marriage is marked by relative invalidity.

b) Irregular Marriages (Fasid Nikah): Can Be Validated Under Certain Conditions

There are many possible irregularities related to the dower.

For example, the dower is below the legal minimum, the payment date for the balance of the dower is not specified, the term for paying the dower is too long, the dower is not stipulated in the contract, or the dower is made up of things that are prohibited under Sharia.

But irregularities may also relate to a marriage in which one of the spouses is in a state of ihram (sacralization), or the role of the guardian is played by a distant relative when there is a closer relative, or the guardian is not Muslim when he is required to be Muslim.

The effects of the irregularity differ depending on whether the marriage was consummated or not.

• If the marriage was not consummated, the conjugal bond is broken.
• If the marriage was consummated, the irregularity is covered and the illegality is considered nonexistent.

1 – An Irregular or “Fasid”  Islamic Marriage

This is a marriage that can become a proper marriage if the irregularities are removed. 

Examples of irregular (fasid) marriages: 

• Marriage without witnesses.
• The witnesses are drunk or cannot hear.
• Marriage to a fifth wife.
• Marriage to a woman during her waiting period (iddah).
• interfaith marriage with a woman who does not believe in God.
• When the offer and acceptance are not done at the same meeting.

These irregularities can be corrected.

2 – Invalid or “Batil” Islamic Marriages

Such marriages cannot become proper marriages (sahih). . 

Examples of invalid marriages (batil)

• Marriage by forced consent.
• A wife with more than one husband.
• Marriage prohibited due to consanguinity (prohibited degree).
• Marriage prohibited based on adoption.
• Marriage of a Muslim woman to a non-Muslim man.
• Marriage of a Muslim man to a polytheist woman, i.e., one who does not come from the People of the Book (Christian or Jewish).
• Marriage to one who is gravely ill.
• Immediate remarriage of a permanently repudiated wife to the same husband .

These marriages are illegal from the start and such irregularities cannot be corrected.