First virtual wedding by Mombasa Kadhi, couple in TZ

The engaged couple was in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The Principal Khadi who officiated on Thursday was more than 500 kilometres away in Mombasa.

It was the first known such virtual wedding with a Khadi in Mombasa.

In Islam, the Nikkah or wedding ceremony is usually a big celebration because it is considered a prophetic tradition.

During the ceremony, the marriage contract is signed between the bride and bridegroom after they say "I do” to each other.

More often, the Nikkah ceremony takes place in a mosque where the imam officiates with friends and family witnessing  the union.

However, Covid-19 pandemic disrupted life, limited physical gatherings and called for keeping a distance from others.

The number of people attending weddings and funerals has been limited.

The Judiciary has had to go virtual in their proceedings directives.

On Thursday afternoon, a Kadhi’s court in Mombasa officiated the first virtual Nikkah ceremony.

Sitting at his chambers at the Kadhi’s Court, Principal Kadhi Habib Salim Vumbi officiated at the wedding of Adam Abdulaziz and his bride Rayan Mohamed.

The couple was in Dar es Salaam.

The session was conducted in Arabic since the bridegroom from Sudan does not understand English or Kiswahili.

The bride Rayan is Kenyan, but had to travel to Dar es Salaam where the union took place.

The ceremony took less than 30 minutes for the two to be declared husband and wife.

The bridegroom agreed to a bride price of $10,000 (Sh1 million). He made a down payment of Sh200,000

Speaking to Star shortly after the ceremony, Vumbi said they had to adapt to the new ways of doing things to minimise physical contact during the pandemic.  

“This is the first Nikkah I have conducted virtually. In most cases couples come here physically to officiate their unions,” Vumbi said.

He added that, “Jurisprudence has to expand, in the early periods of the ancient Islam there was no technology like we have now, so we just have to embrace it.”

The Kadhi explained that the bride settled on him to officiate the ceremony because her brother, who gave consent for her to get married, was in Mombasa and could not make it to Dar es Salaam.

“The most important is to ensure that the bride, bridegroom, the wali (bride's male guardian)  and other witnesses are in a sitting,

"I have to be in a position to see all of them to go on with the ceremony,” he said.

Wali is a male guardian, parent or relative who gives consent for the woman to get married.

(Edited by V. Graham)