Marriage in Islam

In Islam, marriage is a legal contract (Literary Arabic: عقد القران ʻaqd al-qirān, "matrimony contract"; Urdu:نکاح نامہ‎ / ALA-LC: Nikāḥ-nāmah) between two people. Both the groom and the bride are to consent to the marriage of their own free wills. A formal, binding contract is considered integral to a religiously valid Islamic marriage, and outlines the rights and responsibilities of the groom and bride. There must be two Muslim witnesses of the marriage contract. Divorce (also called Tallaq in Arabic) is permitted and can primarily be issued by the groom. However, the bride also has the right to initiate the demand for the divorce. The actual rules of marriage and divorce (often part of Personal Status Laws) can differ from country to country, based on codified law and the school of jurisprudence that is largely followed in that country.