Islamic rulling on online marriage

Merely conducting the offer and acceptance (ijab and qabul) online does not constitute a valid Islamic marriage (nikah). Therefore, such a nikah is not considered to have taken place according to Islamic law.

The reason is that for a nikah to be valid, it is necessary not only to have two qualified Muslim witnesses present, but also for the offer and acceptance to take place in one unified session (ittihad al-majlis). In other words, the bride and groom, or their duly appointed representatives (wakils), must conclude the offer and acceptance within the same legal session. Since this condition is not fulfilled when the parties merely exchange offer and acceptance online, such a nikah is not valid.

However, if the groom or the bride (or both) appoint a representative (wakil), and the representative, the person conducting the nikah, and the two witnesses are all physically present in the same session, and all the other conditions of nikah are fulfilled, then the nikah will be valid, even if the bride or groom is only listening online.

Therefore, not every case involving an online element has the same ruling. A nikah based solely on online offer and acceptance is not valid. However, if the nikah is conducted through the Islamic procedure of representation (wakalah) while fulfilling all the required conditions, then it is valid and permissible.