May 25, 2007 -- According to an instruction issued by the Algerian Religious Affairs Ministry, imams are not allowed to perform marriage services (to register a fatiha marriage) unless the marriage is registered in a wedding registry office.

A number of Az Zawiyah imams have joined the project of the ministry to issue a “Charter for Marriage Act” in which the moral and material commitments of couples are defined in order to save the family and declare the marriage as well as to preserve the rights of each party.

All in all it seems that imams have become severe regarding marriage without civil registration. They do not register a fatiha marriage unless the groom and the bride’s parents prove the civil registration of the marriage.

A man said that he organised a wedding party for his daughter, went with the groom’s parents to the mosque and brought an imam from there to perform the marriage services.

The imam asked for the marriage act but he realised that they had not registered the marriage in the wedding registry office.

Then, he refused to read the fatiha and left the party. The families of the groom and the bride begged the imam to accept reading of the fatiha in order to avoid a scandal with the guests.

The imam sent a prayer caller (muezzin) from the mosque who does not have a job contract with the religious affairs ministry to perform the marriage services instead of him.

It’s worth mentioning that a marriage performed only by fatiha without civil registration may lead to some problems. For instance: the woman can be deprived of her rights and the rights of her children after getting divorced if her husband denies the marriage and does not want to recognise his illegitimate children.