Back then, I saw no way out of an abusive marriage and can only thank my lucky stars that he divorced me himself upon the insistence of his second wife, a marriage he contracted without my permission,' she revealed. I became more aware recently when I started reading about the nikah nama form on social media and when my current fiance discussed it with me. I had no idea my in-laws had crossed out certain sections. 'With my first marriage, I only got to glance at the nikah nama before I signed. My advice to other women in similar situations? Be smarter than I was and lawyer up.'Īnd then there're those who never even knew their rights to begin with - and lived to regret it, like Sana*. I also lost my claim to any alimony and maintenance. When my relationship went to s**t, I had to opt for a khula instead, which meant I had to return my nominal mehr. Apparently asking for my own rights was considered ' besharmi',' shared Amna*. I brought it up once but was dismissed and I was too in love to even think about my marriage failing so I chose to just let it go. 'I was fairly young when I got married (24) but even then I knew that I could have the right of divorce delegated to me. Now hold that thought.ĭo you think it makes sense to sign a legally binding contract without exhaustively going through the terms within so you know precisely what it entails? When you put it that way, most of us if not all would obviously say no. And that's not including all the school slips I forged my mother's signature on (sorry Mom!).ĭocuments of all kinds require our unique stamp of approval, yet signing our name is something we rarely stop to think about in adult life. Over the course of my life, I've signed a lot of things.Ĭhecks, credit card receipts, forms, documents, you name it.

What is a nikah nama in english