Marriage in islam

Muslim Marriage contract can have only one goal?
 It is to meet the philosophical standards of marriage given in Quran. Still a Muslim marriage is not a sacrament. It is a legal agreement between a man and a woman where either of the parties may include certain conditions to avoid future legal complications.
The procedural details of a Muslim marriage contract are not given in Quran. However, any marriage is a Muslim marriage if it contains the two basic conditions:
 1- The marriage is permitted by God.
2- The parties give their free consent.
In case of absence of any of these conditions, the marriage can not be categorized as a marriage recognized by Quran. It is duty of the Muslim society to decide procedural details of a Muslim marriage.
Different Muslim societies have developed procedures which may be slightly different from the others. Sunnis prefer procedures given in ‘Hadiths’ collected by Imam Bukhar or Imam Muslim. While the Shias like to follow their own collection of ‘Hadiths’ like Furu Al-Kafi etc.
It does not matter what procedure is decided by a Muslim society. But it matters a lot when the Muslim marriage contract does not intend to meet the overall marriage philosophy of Quran.

Muslim Marriage Certificate

 Is written agreement essential?
No...!
Quran does not ask for any written agreement of marriage. However, in recent times the legislatives of different Muslim societies have made it compulsory that every Muslim should be signed and registered with the government agencies.
Without a marriage certificate, a marriage is not void or even irregular if it meets other requirements of a Muslim marriage contract. However, in most of the modern Muslim states it may be an offence to not get registered a Muslim marriage. Besides legal implications it is always advisable to inscribe the details of a Muslim marriage to avoid future problems.

Main Elements of a Muslim Marriage Contract

The Muslim Jurists have developed the following general elements of a Muslim marriage contract:
1- Consent of the Parties
2- Payment of dower
3- Witnesses
4- Aimed to be Permanent in Sunni law but not in Mut’ah in Shia Law
5- May be terminated by either of the parties Any time