Muslim Wedding in Mosque - non-muslim relatives

HelterSkelter

Can anyone tell me what happens at a wedding in a Mosque if one of the parties to be married has non-Muslim relatives and friends? Can the non-Muslim relatives and friends attend the wedding? I presume the Muslim guests pray during the wedding but what do the non-Muslim guests do?

UU

Yes. Non-Muslim relatives are allowed to attend in the more "liberal" mosques. For example, my dad's friend is a Muslim convert and his parents who are Christian were allowed to attend his wedding. They were actually warmed quite welcomely into the mosque. Of course, this was the mosque in Clonskegh in Dublin. If it were somewhere like Saudi Arabia, it would be a very different story.

Gangsta

I've never attended one in a Masjid, usually weddings aren't held in moques but in function rooms etc. Islam says it's more of a cultural thing so it is left the culture in question.

Of course they can attend.

the_new_mr

Non-Muslims of any kind (not only relatives) are of course welcome to a Masjid for the marriage ceremony or, indeed, at any time. I'm not sure where you got the idea that they wouldn't be in Saudi UU. There's no reason for that at all and if it does happen then it's completely against Islamic teaching.

There isn't usually a formal prayer in a marriage ceremony unless the time for one of the 5 daily prayers is upon them. As gangsta pointed out, there's also the function of the marriage celebration which might be on the same day or a different day than the ceremony itself. It might be in the masjid or in a room in a hotel or something. I guess all this is pretty similar to a non-Muslim wedding as I attended one non-Muslim ceremony in a Church and then we went to a hotel for lunch.

HelterSkelter

Thanks for the replies guys.

Is this an accurate description of what happens at a Muslim marriage ceremony?: http://www.zawaj.com/articles/alnikah.html

A few questions on it:
- A friend told me that the bride and groom are not in the same room in the Mosque at the time of the ceremony, is this true? Do all the male relatives go into the room with the groom and the female relatives with the bride?
- When the various verses are being recited, do all people in attendance recite them or just the bride and groom? If everyone is to recite them what do the non-Muslims do, just stand there and say nothing (like at a Catholic wedding where non-catholics just observe what is going on and don't say any of the prayers)?

blackthorn

Hi HelterSkelter,

-From my own experience, I got married at a friends house, and the gentlemen sat in one room with my husband-to-be, while I sat in another room with the ladies during the nikah ceremony.

-the Quranic verses are recited by the person officiating the nikah, like the Imam or what-have-you. Not recited by the people attending the wedding. The Imam makes some dua (supplicatary prayers) at the end, and the people say 'ameen' to those.

the_new_mr

HelterSkelter wrote:

A friend told me that the bride and groom are not in the same room in the Mosque at the time of the ceremony, is this true? Do all the male relatives go into the room with the groom and the female relatives with the bride?

This is a cultural thing more than an Islamic thing to be honest. I attended a wedding ceremony of a distant relative where everyone was in the same room and this was in a room at Al-Ahzar.

Any invited non-Muslims can just observe the wedding the same way a Muslim would observe a Christian wedding for example. Of course, there's nothing wrong with them saying "Ameen" with everyone else which is the same as "Amen".

Victor

HelterSkelter wrote:

like at a Catholic wedding where non-catholics just observe what is going on and don't say any of the prayers

Semantics, but most non-Catholic Christians would have no problem joining in the prayers at a Catholic wedding and vice-versa.