At a wedding ceremony, a young man asked me, "They went to the City Hall this morning and had [got] their marriage certificate. Isn't it superfluous therefore to do another Islamic contract? Isn't the legal contract at the city [hall] enough?!

In fact the contract at the city [hall] covers the legal aspect but Islamic marriage is more than that and there are some differences:

At the City [Hall} is a contract between two person; Islamic marriage is a contract between three because Allah is party to it and even a witness there too.

Marriage conducted at the city [hall] does not specify a way of life, whereas Islamic marriage specifically entails the criterion of "building a family upon the Book of Allah and the Sunna (traditions) of His Prophet."

A civil marriage leaves authority to be a subject of mutual agreement and often mutual competition, whereas in Islamic marriage, the mastery is to Allah and both parties have to cede His instructions.

The city [hall] marriage however satisfies the criterion of documentation with the law of the land, and this is also an Islamic requirement.

Reflections by Dr. H. Hathut