There is often some confusion around marriage and divorce in Islam for people living in the UK, including whether Islamic marriages they are legally recognised under the law of England & Wales. Our Family Law & Divorce colleagues answers some of the FAQs raised by Muslim couples regarding marriage and divorce, including issues surrounding the Nikah, Talaq, Khula, Mehr, Faskh-e-Nikah, and Tafweedh-e-Talaq.

What is a Nikah?

A Nikah is a religious Muslim ceremony performed to unite a man and a woman in a matrimonial union under Islam. There are some conditions to a Nikah:

  • there must be wilful consent from both parties
  • two adult witnesses to the ceremony
  • a legal representative or Wali, who is usually the father of the bride
  • and a bridal gift to the bride from the groom, known as Mehr

Is a Nikah recognised under English law?

It depends on where the Nikah marriage ceremony took place. When you enter a Nikah ceremony in England and Wales and, provided you have met the full conditions outlined above, your Nikah will be valid under Islamic law, but, unfortunately, unless you have a civil legal ceremony, you will not be legally married under civil law, and you would only be treated as ‘cohabitees’.

By only undergoing a Nikah ceremony in the UK, couples are effectively denying themselves the security and other advantages that come with a civil marriage.

Our advice would be that when getting married, a couple should always have the civil ceremony first, followed by the Islamic Nikah ceremony. We appreciate that most people would not wish to live together until the Islamic ceremony, but by doing it this way, you are provided protection under the civil laws of England & Wales. Time and time again, we have seen clients who have had an Islamic Nikah ceremony and were promised a civil ceremony, but it never happened.

An added complexity is that a Nikah will be recognised in the UK if you got married abroad in a country where Nikah is legal. For example, if you had a Nikah marriage ceremony in Pakistan, according to the country’s laws and the location where it was registered, you would not be required to have a separate civil ceremony in England or Wales.

In the event of a divorce where a couple got married abroad, because their Nikah has been recognised under UK law, then not only would you have to have a divorce under Islamic law, but also a divorce under civil law.

So, where you had your Nikah determines if your Islamic marriage is legally recognised in England & Wales?

If you got married abroad according to the law of the country that recognises a Nikah, when you come to the UK, your marriage will be recognised under civil law. If you got married in England and Wales under Islamic law, you will need to have a civil ceremony to obtain the marriage rights to which you are entitled.

How do you get a divorce in Islam using Talak or Khula?

Unfortunately not all marriages last, and there are a number of different ways that couples can get divorced under Islam, depending on who instigates the divorce process.

Talak is the granting of the divorce by the husband, where the man gives a divorce to the woman with or without cause. However, he then has to pay the bridal gift, Mehr, as a financial settlement in full.

In Islam, when marriage vows are recited, the husband gives his wife a gift, which is known as Mehr, as part of the marriage contract. Mehr is typically paid at the time of the marriage ceremony, but it can sometimes be deferred. It can be nominal amounts or huge. Often, people put in a small amount, such as £10 or £100, as they are confident in a happy union and want something nominal, and others have a large Mehr for protection in case things go wrong. Mehr is documented and, in the event of divorce, is what would be paid as a ‘settlement’. There are typically numerous discussions about Mehr before the Nikah ceremony.

If the wife wants to get divorced in Islam, it is called a Khula. Khula is where the wife can, without giving a reason, ask the husband for a divorce; however, the condition is that the wife is usually asked to repay the Mehr to the husband. There is no allegation of fault. In some instances, if they both agree the wife does not need to repay her Mehr to the husband, depending on the circumstances of the divorce.

What is Faskh-e-Nikah or Tafweedh-e-Talaq / Talaq-e-Tafweez?

There are also two lesser-known ways of getting divorced under Islam: Faskh-e-Nikah and Tafweedh-e-Talaq (also known as Talaq-e-Tafweez), which are typically used by women to initiate the divorce process.

The Faskh-e-Nikah is the dissolution of an Islamic marriage pronounced by a third party upon application by the wife, normally a Qadhi (a judge who sits in a Shariah court). The reason a woman may seek the dissolution of her marriage by way of Faskh-e-Nikah is if her husband refuses to grant her Talaq. It could be because the wife is unhappy that her husband is not taking care of her properly, or the marriage has broken down and the husband is refusing to grant her a divorce, so the wife could ask the Qahi to grant her a divorce. Abroad, the wife would apply to the Shariah Council, and she could also apply to the UK Shariah Council here in England.

Tafweedh-e-Talaq / Talaq-e-Tafweez is a form of agreement, similar to a prenuptial agreement. It is made either before or after marriage and provides details of the grounds a wife may invoke if she later seeks divorce from her husband. One of the most common grounds is if a husband takes on another wife. In Islam, subject to certain conditions, a man may take up to four wives. However, a bride may specify in a marriage contract that if the man takes on another wife, she may obtain a divorce.

It is important to note that when a Tafweedh-e-Talaq / Talaq-e-Tafweez is drafted, the list of ‘grounds‘ to end the marriage must be significant issues.

If my Nikah was recognised as a legal marriage in the UK, do I need to get a civil divorce under the laws of England & Wales?

If you have had a marriage that is recognised in the UK, just because you have entered the marriage under Islamic law and followed one of the processes for getting a divorce in Islam, you would also need to end the marriage under civil law.
Ideally, the two divorce processes, the one under Islam and the civil divorce recognised by the laws of England & Wales, should occur simultaneously.

It is important to note that, while it is possible to apply for an Islamic divorce at any time, under civil law in England and Wales, you cannot get divorced before your first anniversary, regardless of how your relationship has progressed.