Mu' meneen Brothers and Sisters,

As Salaam Aleikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh. (May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be upon all of you)

One of our brothers/sisters has asked this question:

Dear brother Burhan

Assalamu alaikum

Recently I was appointed a Justice of Peace. One of the powers of the JP is to solemnise marriages.

As a Muslim can I solemnise marriages of Christians or Buddhists or other non Muslims?

Grateful for your quick response as I have to respond to a request of a colleague who is getting married next week and who wants me to solemnise the marriage.

(There may be some grammatical and spelling errors in the above statement. The forum does not change anything from questions, comments and statements received from our readers for circulation in confidentiality.)

Answer:

Can Muslim solemnize marriage?

In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and whoever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We bear witness that there is no one (no idol, no person,  no grave, no prophet,  no imam,  no dai,  nobody!) worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that Muhammad(saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.

If the governing authorities have given a believer the power to legally solemnize marriages, it does not matter what faith is followed by the married couple, there is absolutely no harm if the believer, in the legal capacity given to him by the governing authority, solemnizes the marriage.  The only thing one would be doing here is verifying that the couple who claim to have married each other, have indeed been legally married according to their faith or belief. 

But if a couple has not legally married, and the Justice of Peace or any other person bears false witness knowingly or falsely solemnizes that they have married;  that would indeed be considered a sin in Islam.

Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me.  Allah Alone Knows Best and He is the Only Source of Strength.

Your Brother in Islam,

Burhan