Registration of Births, Deaths, Marriages and Civil Partnerships: Islam
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he plans to make it a legal requirement for Muslim couples to civilly register their marriage before, or at the same time as, their Islamic ceremony.
Answered by Catherine Atkinson
For a marriage to be legally binding, it must comply with the relevant statutory framework, principally the Marriage Act 1949. The Act allows couples, including Muslim couples, to have a civil marriage or a religious marriage by marrying in their registered place of worship, thereby providing them with legal rights and protections. Where a couple has solely undertaken a religious ceremony entirely outside the legal framework, this does not constitute a legal marriage and cannot be registered as such.
The Government does not currently plan to introduce a legal requirement specifically requiring Muslim couples to have a recognised civil marriage before, or at the same time as, an Islamic ceremony
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