Diary: Sep 26: ..HAMDARDI.... Pg 148 - Page 86

The nikaah remains invalid'.

And here's why:

1) Zoya's Wali. In the absence of biological parents, one needs a Wali. A Wali cannot be connected the groom's family. S/he has to be wholly independent of the groom's family because the purpose of a Wali is too look out for the bride. In this case, they are all connected or related the Ayaan in some way or another.

2) Zoya's Walis are Zeenat and Anwar. No two ways around that. Her parents are either dead' or missing and the moment they adopted Zoya they became her legal guardians, and even biology cannot supersede that. Even if Ghafoor was revealed to be her father at this juncture, he is not her legal parent, and therefore not a Wali.

3) Just watched the video, neither said qubool hai' but actually legitimised the nikaah. This is not dissimilar to the situation we had back in June with Ayaan and Humeira. While legal (had Badi Bi not intervened) because the formalities were complete, the method was suspect and that made the nikaah invalid. It's like a day-old expired driving licence. It's legitimate and legal because it was obtained from the right channels but invalid because of the date on it.

4)Both agreed to marriage in coercion. Islam is clear on the matter; no form of force validates a nikaah. So every forced marriage is actually invalid in the eyes of God and the religion; just not it's warped practitioners. Ayaan and Zoya aren't willingly agreeing to this because they want to but because they have been pressured into making this choice. Coercion has happened here.

I mean at this juncture, if they wanted, they could have Anwar and Zeenat arrive and just render the whole situation invalid without so much as breaking a sweat. Zoya is not the legal responsibility of Asad, Dilshaad, Rashid or Ayaan, which means her guardian needs to be present. Even if they arrange a Wali', in light of the fact that Zoya has legal guardians that Wali is invalid.

More importantly, I haven't seen the requisite two witnesses either and these two witnesses have to be independent of the Ahmed Khans and Zoya.

There's also the issue of the nikaahnaama itself. A nikahnaama has a built in pre-nupt and it includes the rights of the husband and wife. In the Subcontinent, it's fairly common practice for the religious leaders to cancel' the rights of the wife, including her right to divorce, unless a family elder (specifically a Wali) intervenes. They automatically cancel unless the Wali objects.