Is Court Marriage Un: Islamic?

Today on Facebook eminent Novelist and Short Story Writer Ms. Moazzama Tanweer has written that when some parents do not permit their grown: up children to marry as they wish and impose their own decisions on them, some adopt the course of court marriage and rebel against forced marriage. She has expressed deep grief on the murder of a young couple of Gujranwala who did court marriage because they were in love and their parents did not permit them to marry. Eventually, they had to rebel and go to court. Forced Marriage is prohibited in the Quran. In Surah Nisa (The Women), the Quran says:' O, who believe! You are forbidden to inherit women against their will. Nor should you treat them with harshness.' (4: 19). I am not criticising any and I have no intention to pass judgment on this specific shocking incident which occurred in Gujranwala. My simple reaction to this murder is strong condemnation and deep agony. Some people have commented on the court marriage and permitted it, and some have opposed court marriage.

A person wrote that court marriage is un: Islamic. Hence, I decided to briefly opine on this topic in the light of Islam. Mostly, the traditional, retrogressive clerics and the fundamentalists reject any act which is the need of the time. As these fanatics have no understanding of Time Spirit and ground realities and are oblivious to the importance of 'Ijtihad (Rational Enquiry: soul searching), they have totally failed to enforce and establish the universal and pragmatic aspects of Islam. In my book titled 'The Message of Islam', in a chapter captioned 'Islam and Sex', and in my other book titled 'The Rational Study of Islam,' in a chapter titled 'The Women in Islam', I have written on this subject in detail. The first question arises, if court marriage is un: Islamic, then why do these courts exist in an Islamic country? The constitution of Pakistan says that it is an Islamic state, and no law can be made which is contrary to Islam.

Second; we should know that according to the Quran, we need two witnesses when a lady is divorced. We don't need any witness in the event of marriage. Marriage is a social contract between a man and a woman. There is no mention of wedding witnesses in the Quran. Marriage contracts with witnesses and registration are our social and state law requirements. These are not Islamic requirements. The purpose of Waleema (wedding feast) is just to make marriage public and involve your near and dear ones in...