Marriage in Islam

In Islamic law, marriage is accomplished through the marriage contract, known as a nikah (Arabic: نِكَاح, romanized: nikāḥ, lit. 'sex') or more specifically, the bride's acceptance of the groom's dowry (mahr) and the witnessing of her acceptance. The contract has rights and obligations for the man and woman, with rules on consent, financial obligations, and the treatment of partners, developed (according to Islamic sources) from the Quran, (the holy book of Islam) and hadith (the passed down saying and doings of the Islamic prophet Muhammad).

In addition to the requirement that a formal, binding contract of rights and responsibilities – either verbal or on paper – be drawn up, there are a number of other rules for marriage in Islam: among them that there be witnesses to the marriage, a gift from the groom to the bride known as a mahr, that both the groom and the bride freely consent to the marriage; that the groom be married to no more than four women (a practice known as polygyny), that the women be married to no more than one man. Divorce is permitted in Islam and can take a variety of forms, some executed by a husband personally and some executed by a religious court on behalf of a plaintiff wife who is successful in her legal divorce petition for valid cause.

In addition to the usual marriage intended for raising families, there are a few types of marriages in Islam that lack some customarily requirements: fixed-term marriages (zawāj al-mut'ah or "temporary marriage")^: 1045 — permitted only by the Twelver branch of Shia Islam;^: 242 Nikah Misyar, which lacks some conditions such as living together, and is permitted by some Sunni Islamic scholars; and '"customary" marriage ('Nikah 'urfi) which are not officially registered with state authorities.

Traditional marriage in Islam has been criticized (by modernist Muslims) and defended (by traditionalist Muslims) for allowing polygamy and easy divorce.