Answer
Wa `alaykum As-Salamu waRahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.
In this fatwa:
The conditions of marriage are the following:
1- The consent of the guardian of the woman;
2- presence of witnesses;
3- offering and acceptance;
4- and mahr (dower).
Answering your question, Sheikh Ahmad Kutty, a Senior Lecturer and an Islamic Scholar at the Islamic Institute of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, states:
Marriage is a solemn and sacred social contract between bride and groom. This contract is a strong covenant as expressed in Quran: “And how could you take it while you have gone in unto each other and they have taken from you a solemn covenant?” (An-Nisaa’ 4:21)
The minimum conditions of marriage are the following:
1- The consent of the guardian of the woman;
2- presence of witnesses;
3- offering and acceptance;
4- and mahr (dower).
Once the above conditions have been fulfilled, the marriage will be valid. But if these conditions are not fulfilled, then marriage will be null and void.
As far as the consent of guardian is concerned, it can only be dispensed with if the guardian is simply refusing to give consent for considerations other than Islamic. In this case, the judge can authorize the marriage after having followed the due process.
If, on the other hand, such is not the case and no attempt was made to ascertain the consent of the guardian, then such a marriage would be invalid. Therefore, it will be unacceptable in Islam.
Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “There is no (valid) marriage without a guardian and two reliable witnesses.” (At-Tirmidhi)
By stipulating the above-mentioned conditions for the validity of marriage, Islam insists that a marriage should remain distinct from other loose and immoral lifestyles such as fornication and illicit affairs. Hence, the Prophet insisted on making marriages public.
Allah Almighty knows best.
Editor’s note: This fatwa is from Ask the Scholar’s archive and was originally published at an earlier date.