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Fatwa CenterMarriage contract without formula or witnesses
Question
I asked for the hand of my wife in marriage and my father-in-law conducted the wedding for us without the Seeghat Al-‘Aqd (i.e. it was understood from his statement), and when asked about the implication of the union, he said that we were legal to each other as husband and wife, but he reneged on what he said a week later and said that no contract was agreed to. Is the marriage valid?
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad, sallallahu ʻalayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.
The Seeghat An-Nikaah; i.e. the offer from one party of the contract and acceptance from the other, is one of the pillars of the contract without which the marriage is invalid.
We do not understand what you mean by “without the Seeghat Al-‘Aqd (i.e. it was understood from his statement).” The preponderant opinion of the scholars in this regard is that there is no specific Seeghah (formula/wording) for the marriage contract; rather, the wording customarily accepted by people to be marriage is accepted as marriage. Shaykh Al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah 
said, “Marriage is valid if conducted in any manner that people consider as marriage, in any language and any words or any actions, and the same applies to any contract.”
The majority of the scholars stipulated that there must be two trustworthy witnesses upon conducting the marriage contract, and some scholars held that it is obligatory to have two trustworthy witnesses at the time of the consummation of marriage. Some scholars, on the other hand, held that a marriage contract is valid merely by announcing it, even if there were no witnesses when conducting the marriage contract. The Maaliki scholar ʻUlaysh said, “Ibn Lubb stated that the Maaliki scholars contended that the announcement of the marriage with the knowledge of the husband and the bride's Wali (legal guardian) is sufficient even if there were no witnesses when conducting the marriage contract. This was the case with many marriage contracts of the early Muslim generations, and it was narrated on the authority of Ibn Al-Qaasim.” [Fataawa ʻUlaysh]
Your situation involves a dispute and denial, and, as you can see, the issues we mentioned were subject to a difference of opinion among the scholars. Therefore, it is better that you refer your case to the Shariah court or what substitutes it in non-Muslim countries, such as the Islamic centers concerned with the settlement of Muslim issues.
Lastly, we would like to point out that marriage is a serious covenant and a sacred bond; this is why Allah, the Almighty, called the marriage bond a solemn covenant. He says (what means): {And how could you take it while you have gone in unto each other and they have taken from you a solemn covenant?} [Quran 4:21] Therefore, a Muslim must give special attention to the marriage-related issues and honor that sacred bond rather than tamper with it and deal with it indifferently.
Allah knows best.
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