Fatwa #319592 February 2015Hong Kong
The concept of engagement in Shar‘iah
Question
Is there any concept of "engagement" in Islam or only Nikah?
If girl and boy are engaged are they allow to hang out?
After Nikah, boy and girl are allowed to hang out but* (girl and boy already had Nikah but girl is still with her family as both families decided to that the girl will go to boy home after few days or months) so is that allowed? Plus if girl and boy are already in Nikah but decided to complete study or something so there should any gap or there shouldn't be?
Answer
In the Name of Allāh, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
As-salāmu ‘alaykum wa-rahmatullāhi wa-barakātuh.
Respected brother in Islam,
1. Shari‘ah considers an engagement being merely a commitment to marry in the future. The laws of interaction between the two are the same as those between two complete strangers as it is not the actual nikāh. As such, once the engagement has taken place, it is impermissible for the boy and girl to interact with each other as the case before engagement.
2. Although in essence, once the nikāh has taken place, the husband and wife are permissible for each other. However, if the rukhsati (customary handing over of the wife into the custody of the husband) is stipulated until a certain time then such a mutual agreement should be honoured and not violated.
Furthermore, the rukhsati period should not be prolonged for an unreasonable duration.
And Allah Ta‘āla Knows Best
Fahad Abdul Wahab
Student Darul Iftaa
USA
Checked and Approved by,
Mufti Ebrahim Desai