Love conquers all hurdles and distances but tying nuptial knot online would be the last option a couple would resort to. Nevertheless in the times of COVID-19 pandemic, this ‘unromantic’ way of walking down the aisle is gradually gaining acceptance.
Since social distancing is a must to keep the pandemic at bay, solemnizing online Nikah is not a bad idea as long as the couple stays together. The lockdown has thrown life out of gear imposing restrictions on many social events including marriage ceremonies. While across state many weddings have been postponed, Guna has set the trend of solemnising 16 Nikahs online in these times of crisis. The towns like Sagar, Jabalpur, Bhopal, Burhanpur, Khandwa, Ujjain and Indore house sizeable Muslim population, but Guna outdid many in going ahead with the online marriage ceremony during lockdown .
Guna Qazi Nurullah Yusufzai, on Friday solominised marriage of a labourer with a woman living 35 km away in Raghogarh. He was one among the 16 men whose marriage ceremony was conducted online.
Yusufzai, said, “Around 600 nikahs slated to be solemnized during this period have been postponed for six months due to lockdown.”
Till now 16 online nikaahs have been solemnized in Guna, including the last one today. Now the process of online nikaahs will resume after the holy month of Ramzan.
“In the 16 online nikaahs solemnized so far, at least six to eight families are affluent, while four to five are middle class families. These online marriages have been solemnized between bride and grooms living in Guna and adjoining Rajgarh, Ashok Nagar and Shivpuri districts,” the Qazi added.
Just like the conventional marriage, in online nikaah also, there is a requirement of witnesses and a vakeel (vakeel acts as authorized guardian of the bride who gives consent on her behalf for the nikaah to the groom), informed the Qazi.
“In the online nikaah, both the sides (the groom and bride) have to present two witnesses. There are four sides involved in the video call to solemnize the nika, including the bride and witnesses, her vakeel, the groom and witnesses and the Qazi,” he elaborated.
“Once the bride gives consent for the nikah through the vakeel, the process of online nikah is completed by me with the groom and his witnesses through the necessary rituals and the requisite paper work at my end,” the Qazi said.
“If the quality of the network and internet connections is good then the online nikah ceremony gets completed within half an hour,” he maintained.
