Title: When performing a nikkah, is it sufficient for the male to say 'I take so and so as my wife' and the one male witness says, 'i accept you have said this ......'. And then, the female says 'I accept so and so as my husband', and the two female witnesses accept they hear this? Do the male and female have to be in each others prescence when they say this? Or can they be in seperate buildings?

Question: When performing a nikkah, is it sufficient for the male to say 'I take so and so as my wife' and the one male witness says, 'i accept you have said this ......'. And then, the female says 'I accept so and so as my husband', and the two female witnesses accept they hear this? Do the male and female have to be in each others prescence when they say this? Or can they be in seperate buildings?

Answer ID: 28065Posted on: Sep 1, 2020

Bismillah hir-Rahman nir-Rahim !

(Fatwa: 1889/L=541/tl=1431)

Nikah takes place by exchanging proper words of nikah (ijab-o-qubool) in front of two witnesses. It is necessary for the witnesses to hear it, not to accept it.
و أما شرائط النكاح : منها سماع الشاهدين كلامهما معاً هكذا فى فتح القدير (هنديه 1ظ268)
It is necessary for husband and wife or their wakil to be present in the meeting of nikah. If husband and wife are in the meeting of nikah and they do ijab-o-qubool they can do so. In the same way if any one of them is not in the meeting of nikah but his or her wakil is present and he does ijab-o-qubool (as usually it happen that woman is not in the meeting of nikah rather her wakil is there). Ijab-o-qubool may be done like this as well. And the ijab-o-qubool of husband and wife's wakil shall be effective from them as if they themselves have done it. In this way their nikah can also be performed while they are in separate place.