Ghidul 6 - Nikah

An idiot’s guide to an Indian wedding

5.Nikah

The Christian equivalent of this ceremony is when you go to the church to get married. The Muslim of course go to the mosque.

My mum woke us all up bright and early, and somehow we forgot to wake up the groom, who was sleeping an hour before he was supposed to get married!

There is a tradition in my dad’s side of the family. When a boy gets married, the father gives the sisters money. I don’t know why they do this, but heck, I’m not the one to refuse money ;p

Apparently we could negotiate with my father, and ask for whatever amount we pleased, since no one told us this vital piece of information, we were short-changed.

Before the groom left the house, we all had to feed him something sweet. It could be anything, traditional Indian sweets, chocolate, pancakes etc. But every single person must feed him.

At the mosque, the Kazi (it means ‘chief official’ in Arabic) conducted the ceremony. In Islam, marriage is a contract. Both sides of the parties have some conditions, which the other one must fulfill before they get married.

The bride’s condition is usually ‘Mehr’ (bride price)- the groom must offer the bride (not her family) anything she asks for. It could be money, gold, an apartment and so on. I think in ancient times, this was a good system, because if the husband turned out to be a bad husband, and didn’t give the wife any money, the wife could still support herself.

The bride asked for 75 grams of gold and a book. In my family, the groom’s don’t make any demand, and my brother followed this tradition.

Coming back to the ceremony, the Kazi first asks if the conditions have been fulfilled. If they haven’t, then we cannot move further. Now, its like a typical Christian wedding, the Kazi asks the groom and bride if they accept. Once they do, they are declared man and wife.

We celebrate by distributing dates ad sugar, after which everyone came home for a large lunch.

The same evening was the Reception, stay tuned in for that.