Fatwa ID: 04539

Answered by: Alimah Nasima Umm Hamza

Question:

Assalamu Alaikum.

If the woman who says the ijaab, does not hear the man saying the qubool, Is the marriage valid? For example, if a woman is saying the ijaab of marriage loud in her room. Now three men hear this from the next room or the next flat and one of the men says qubool in front of the other two men. But the woman does not hear the man saying the qubool. Will that make a marriage between the man and the woman?

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

Answer:

This is not a valid way of conducting a nikah. Nikah must be performed where both parties know who is making the offer and acceptance. In the situation you describe, you did not offer yourself to a specific person when there were three men in the room.

However, if you offered yourself in marriage to ‘Zayd’ who was in that room, and ‘Zayd’ accepted the offer while the 2 male witnesses both heard both the ijaab and the qubool occur in the same sitting, then this Nikah would be valid. The condition is that the 2 witnesses hear the ijaab and qubool, therefore it is not a necessity for you to hear it.

(Ref- Fataawa Al-Hindiyyah, Kitaab An-Nikaah, pages 267-269.)

Only Allah (SWT) alone knows best.

Answered by Alimah Nasima Umm Hamza

Checked and approved by Mufti Mohammed Tosir Miah

Darul Ifta Birmingham