Shuraih Niazi / Bhopal

Religious scholars and Muslim clerics in the city are taking a stand against wasteful wedding ceremonies and refusing to perform nikah on such occasion since they are against the spirit of Islam and also lead to discrimination against the poor.

The trend started started after Qazi Syed Mushtaq Ali Nadvi, head Qazi of the city of Bhopal, called a meeting of ulemas and qazis (judges) who perform nikah. In the meeting a decision was taken that no clergyman will perform a nikah where the wedding is not celebrated with simplicity.

The Qazis and Moulvis have been asked to withdraw from the scene as soon as they see the trappings of an extravagant ceremony.

The Imams of the mosque have been advised to speak on the need to have simple and unostentatious weddings among the Muslims on their Friday sermons.

After this the trend spread to many cities of Madhya Pradesh. On many occasions, the Moulvis have refused to perform the contract signing ceremony or nikahnama after noticing the lavish style of wedding.

The meeting decided that Muslims will not be allowed to use dance-song, band-baja, DJ and firecrackers for the wedding functions. Such weddings will not get a qazi to perform the nikah.

Syed Mushtaq Ali Nadvi, the city qazi of Bhopal said, "In Islam, simplicity is described as the best way of getting married. We have to walk the path that our Prophet and the Quran told us. It has been seen that people are spending more on weddings. Due to this, poor people suffer from an inferiority complex or they spend money after borrowing. "

They said that that the decision was taken in view of the ever-increasing wasteful expenditure on weddings and its impact on the people of small means.

People are appreciative of this initiative. Ansar Siddiqui, a social reformer working with Muslims said such a harsh step has become necessary.

"Weddings have become an expensive affair and it also leads to a lot of girls from poor families remaining single. There is a kind of competitive extravagance in weddings; it leads to expectations of large scale wedding on the side of the groom’s family and the reason why many poor girls remain single.”

Also, he said, it’s against the Sharia. 

Letter of Damoh Qazi to all clerics 

Earlier this week a similar decision was also taken in Damoh town of Bundelkhand where a letter from the city Qazi was read in the mosques across the city after the Friday prayers. In this letter, people were asked to have simple weddings.

The letter said all Hafiz, including the city Qazi, has decided that the custom of large scale weddings common among Muslim should be put to an end. Qazi Qutub Ali, the Qazi of Damoh, said, "we have decided that no qazi will attend the wedding where DJs is played and people are dancing.”

He said, "A decision has also been taken that consent will be given to presiding over the nikah at weddings only after taking in writing from both the groom and the bride’s side about their commitment to a simple ceremony. Unless both parties agree that there will be no un-Islamic element in the marriage, they will not go to read the nikah.