Islamic Marriage Contracts and Divorce

An Islamic marriage contract can also be referred to as “Mehrieh” or “Mahr”. (Also known as Katb el-Kitab in Arabic and Nikah-Nama in Urdu.) A Mehrieh is a formal, binding contract considered an integral part of an Islamic marriage, and outlines the rights and responsibilities of the groom and bride or other parties involved in marriage proceedings.

I have encountered several legal issues involving Mehrieh agreements in my New York divorce practice, mostly with Iranian clients, but also clients from Egypt and Turkey. I have found that for the most part, Islamic marriage contracts are treated as prenuptial agreements in Court. In many Mehrieh agreements, the groom agrees to pay a sum of money to the bride upon her demand (often valued in terms of solid gold coins or other bank guaranteed currency). The Mehrieh often includes symbolic gifts such a mirror, a copy of the Koran, objects of silver, or a carpet.

Before the wedding (the “Aghd”), the groom and the bride’s father negotiate the Mehrieh, and it is signed before witnesses. In Sunni Islam, a marriage contract must have two male witnesses. In Shia Islam, witnesses to a marriage are deemed necessary, but in case they are not available, then the bride and groom may enter into the contract between themselves.

Upon the civil divorce, the Mehrieh will be enforced as a contract. As long as the contract is witnessed properly, it is usually enforced in New York Courts. Due to the very high price of gold coins recently, I have seen Mehrieh agreements that are worth close to a million dollars!

In Islam, in order to get a religious divorce, the parties must cooperate together and appear simultaneously before a religious tribunal to make a formal request. In the Islamic faith, the husband and wife must go to the mosque together. A portion of the Koran is read, and the religious divorce is granted officially. (The process for a Jewish divorce (a “Get”) is very similar.)

Even if there is a civil divorce that gets finalized through Judgment in the United States, without a religious divorce, an observant Islamic woman would not be able to remarry. Even worse, if a woman travels back to her native country, without having obtained her religious divorce, a husband can legally withhold permission for her (or her children) to leave the country. It can even subject the woman to penalties, even death, if there are charges of adultery against her. Therefore, it is critical to obtain both the civil and religious divorce.

For Muslims, to get a religious divorce that will be recognized in Iran, the parties must appear before an embassy, which creates a difficulty since the United States does not have an Iranian embassy. Therefore, the parties must appear at the Pakistani Embassy in Washington DC, which has an “Iranian Interests” department.