The Nikaah Ceremony among the Muslim Community Of the City Of Gonder: A Case Study (2000-2011)
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Date
2012-06
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Addis Ababa Universiy
Abstract
Marriage in Islam is supposed to be performed according to the commands and
teachings of the Holy Qur'an and the Sunnah of the Prophet Mohammed. Its
performance differs according to the geographic, economic and cultural features
of diverse societies. Nevertheless, there exist common f eatures while conducting
an Islamic marriage. Nikaah, which literally means "to bind", becomes a common
phenomenon for all Muslims around the world being basic and mandatory act of
any valid Mus lim marriage.
This thesis gives adequate information on how the Nikaah ceremony is
p e rformed in one of the Muslim communities found in Northern part of Ethiopia,
the city of Gonder. Gonder city being one of the old centers of the Ethiopian s tate
has also become one of the great cities which used to accommodate and still
accommodates cultural and religious pluralities. This makes the city both a
remarkable cultural and religious mosaic in addition to its historical heritages.
It is believed that the word Nikaah represents the concept of Islamic marriage
that it has been used throughout the research. Nikaah, mostly known as "aqid"
among the Gonderine Muslim community, is one feature of their daily lives yet, it
was not studied.
The objective of this research is to study and digitally documenting the
performance of Nikaah. Even though Nikaah is a mandatory act which legalizes
any Muslim marriage, the performance of Nikaah as a whole and its performance
with particular reference to Gonder were not s tudied well and get less attention
among the researchers. Thus, this research has been done to meet multiple
goals.
In order to implement the research qualitative method has been used and
Purposive sampling has been applied based on different selection criteria. A total
of 23 informants have been involved in order to get ample data. For data
collection, observation, interview has been conducted and documents have been
used.
As this research reveals, Nikaah is performed according to the Sharia law with
its own rules and procedures. It is p erformed at the presence of the active
participants of the ceremony. This ceremony is a combination of two main
f eatures I.e. religious and cultural features. Both features appear inseparably
and harmonious ly. The ceremony witnessed changes and replacements on some
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procedures. There are changes that are exhibited on the past ten years due to
cultural, economic pressure and the intervention of the govemment. One can
observe also that cultural fusion as well as religious integrity. This further gives
an overview on how intense religious and cultural process could operate through
years .
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The Nikaah Ceremony among the Muslim Community