One drawing is inspired by the Nikah Nama of Princess Ziya-i-Sultaneh, an Iranian queen of the Qajar dynasty of the 1800s; another is based on the design of an ancient Malaysian illuminated manuscript; the third is inspired by a Mughal folio. Musa, my fiancé (now husband), grew up writing an Islamic marriage contract (known as the Nikah contract in Arabic, which means conjunction or union). A treaty of Nikah was established with Islam more than 1400 years ago. It is a mandatory contract between a Muslim couple that describes their rights and obligations to each other, can be written or oral and, if written, must be signed by the bride, the groom, up to three witnesses and the official. As soon as our Nikah contract could be signed, I mentioned the prenup. This time he said yes. I asked him what made him change his mind. “It`s something you need to feel safe,” he said. I liked that he could understand my need, the underlying reason why I wanted the deal, my desire, the deal itself. Our Nikahnama are real designs by real artists.

Each Nikahnama drawing started from the hand on paper and gave them a handmade feel that sets them apart from the rest. These are either original ideas or historical manuscripts reinterpreted by real artists. We don`t license designs from stock websites and instead support the work of real artists. We only own the copyrights of all our Nikahnamas, which is why our designs are so unique. We have also worked with Islamic scholars to provide a complete 4-page marriage contract with the most accurate wording, which is sent digitally with each order. It contains all the requirements for a valid Nikah as well as optional attachment points. It is fully compliant with Sharia law. Our Nikahnama packages are real contracts, not just pretty pieces of paper. “Some Moulvis even refused to officiate the Nikah if these sections were blocked.

The process of getting a khula is painful and women are exploited in ways you wouldn`t believe. If women were only allowed to divorce from the beginning, we could avoid all the ugliness,” said Sabahat Rizvi, a lawyer and Supreme Court activist. At a recent interfaith marriage, a ketuba fulfilled a dual task as a nikah contract for a Jewish-Muslim couple. Sellers on Etsy offer ketubahs in Arabic and Hebrew for interfaith weddings, and in 2011, the New York Times reported a growing movement of Christian couples using ketubahs in their marriages. Essentially, your Nikah Nama is a civil contract that you enter into, so much so that even the presence of religious clerics in Nikah`s time is not even obligatory, but only a cultural norm; Your father or any adult Muslim man can officiate the Nikah. But many couples renounce these protective measures and rush through the Nikah. “I appreciate the tradition and saw the appointment of the Nikah Nama as a way to honor both our religious heritage and our culture,” Hussain said. He and his wife are now showing Khan`s individual design in their home. “At my first wedding, I could only take a look at the Nikah Nama before signing.

I had no idea that my in-laws had crossed out some items. I recently became aware when I started reading on the Nikah Nama form on social media and when my current fiancé discussed it with me. At the time, I saw no way out of an abusive marriage and I can only thank my happy stars for divorcing me at the urging of his second wife, a marriage he had married without my permission,” she revealed. “It was so frustrating,” she recalls. “I spent so much time finding all these beautiful words to include in my Nikah Nama, but it sounded like the ugliest thing in the world. It`s now hidden somewhere. I would be so embarrassed now to dig it up and show it to you. This is one of the reasons why Khan is so interested in Muslim couples who proactively think about their marriage contracts.

A better and more thoughtful Nikah contract may seem like a prenup that means a stronger, healthier marriage, Khan says. Such a “holy sacrament” deserves to be honored as the most important part of an Islamic marriage, and not hidden behind the scenes, she said. . . .