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Is the marriage contract valid if one of the two witnesses does not pray, or if it is not known whether the wife's guardian prays or not, despite him fasting and attending congregational prayers?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

For a marriage to be valid, it requires the testimony of two just Muslim witnesses. One who abandons prayer is not considered just, and therefore their testimony is invalid, whether they are deemed a disbeliever or a fasiq (transgressor). Consequently, the marriage contract must be redone if one of the witnesses does not pray. However, if the marriage has been publicized and made known to the general public, this suffices for the special testimony according to a group of scholars. Based on this view, the marriage is valid if public announcement and declaration occurred. One should also assume the best of a Muslim; unless there is evidence indicating that the girl's father does not pray, the default assumption is that he is among those who pray, and thus his guardianship in marriage is valid.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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