She got married without a Wali or two witnesses
Fatwa No: 148371

Question

assalamu alaikum i have heard and read everywhere that in nikaah two witnesses are compulsory(males). but their is a stiuation. and it is like this. a boy and a girl did nikaah with each other with their own will (both of them were present at the time of nikaah). however they did not had complete information regarding the procedure of nikaah. so what happened that the person who read the khutubah of nikaah stayed witness from the girls side simultaneously. and the boys friend signed as another witness. however when the khateeb(who read the nikaah khubah) he asked the girl about her will for marrying the boy only three of them were present in the room(i.e; the boy, the girl and the khateeb). however after sometime thay came to know about the complete procedure of nikaah. so the issue was taken to an aalim. who finally said that the nikaah is valid. . so my question is the same is this nikaah valid. if not what should be done

Answer

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.

That boy and that girl should have asked the scholars before conducting the marriage contract; Allaah Says (what means): {…so ask the people of the message if you do not know.}[Quran 16:43]

However, the most important conditions of the marriage contract are the consent of the guardian and the presence of two witnesses, so if a marriage contract took place without the consent of the guardian and the presence of two witnesses, then it is a void marriage according to the four schools of jurisprudence; for more benefit on the conditions of marriage, please refer to Fatwa 83629.

Therefore, this marriage is void and it must be invalidated as it took place without the consent of the guardian, and this is void according to the view of the majority of the scholars. In addition to this, this marriage did not fulfill the condition of the presence of two witnesses. For more benefit, please refer to Fatwa 146735.

To conclude, this marriage is void and it must be invalidated, but if the two parties of the contract want to renew it, then they can do so while fulfilling the conditions of a valid marriage contract.

Nonetheless, if there are any children from this marriage, they should be traced back to their father as he got married while believing that the marriage contract was valid.

Allaah Knows best.

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