Question Summary:
Is nikah over the phone permissible? My fiancé has three Muslim, male witnesses on his side and I have one Muslim female on my side.

Question Detail:

My intended husband and I (who are both Muslims) want to get married. He is currently incarcerated and getting out soon. He has money saved that already takes care of me and the children. I have my contract done already. We want to get married over the phone as soon as possible. He has several Muslim brothers that also know me and are willing to be our witnesses. He will have with him three Muslim men present on his side and one Muslim female on my side. We love each other very much and want to be together and raise our children in a loving, Muslim home. My question is what has to be done in order for our marriage to be authentic and permissible? Please help us!

Answer :

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In the Name of Allāh, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
 
As-salāmu ‘alaykum wa-rahmatullāhi wa-barakātuh.

In principle, nikah conducted over the telephone is not permissible since it does not fulfill the criteria needed for acceptance. In order for nikah to take place, both ijaab (proposal) and qabool (acceptance) must take place in the presence of at least two witnesses. Even with the presence of witnesses, they will not be there to physically witness both the proposal and acceptance.
However, as an alternative, it will be permissible for your fiancé to appoint someone else as an agent to come to you on his behalf to contract the marriage and to pronounce the proposal and acceptance on his behalf. For example, if your husband is person ‘a’, you are person ‘b’, and your husband’s appointed agent is person ‘c’, then ‘c’ will initiate the offer to ‘b’ on behalf of ‘a’. Person ‘c’ can address ‘b’ in words such as:
“Being an authorized agent of ‘a’, I marry ‘a’, son of so-and-so to you.”
Thereafter, ‘b’ (you) will reply:
“I accepted this marriage.”
This process must take place in the presence of at least two Muslim, sane, mature male witnesses or one male and two female witnesses. Therefore if you still only have one female Muslim witness with you the nikah will be invalid. If the above guidelines are followed, then it will be considered as a valid marriage contract and you both will be husband and wife according to Shari’ah.
(Contemporary Fatawa, P. 132, Idara-e-Islamiat)
And Allāh knows best.
 
Muftī Asif Umar
Washington, DC (USA)
 
Concurred by:

Muftī Abrar Mirza
Chicago, IL (USA)
 

Under the Supervision of Muftī Ebrahim Desai (South Africa)