Marriages in the Muslim Community
From The Peopling of Astoria, Queens
The Al- Iman Mosque and the Masjid Dar Al-Dawah both conduct approximately 25
marriages each year. The Shahjalal Masjid, however, is smaller in size and
strength of membership and conducts on average only 10-15 marriages every
year. The couples come to the imam of their local mosque and express their
desire to be united in marriage. After a pre-marriage counseling session,
the imam accepts to wed them in the mosque. The marriage takes place in the
presence of witnesses. The groom agrees to pay a certain amount requested by
the father of the bride in the presence of the imam and the witnesses.
Following this custom, the imam recites prayers from the Qu’ran. The
marriage ceremony is complete when the couple both recite the words: “Kabul,
Kabul, Kabul” which means “I accept, I accept, I accept.” After this ritual
the couple is recognized as man and wife in the eyes of Allah.
We also learned that there are quite a few conversions and inter-faith
marriages conducted in this mosque. We were informed that the almost all of
the intermarriages were between Muslim men and non-Muslim women. Women who
were Christian or Jewish can get married in the Mosque without converting
but women of other religions must be converted before they marry in the
mosque. Even though it is not mandatory for the Jewish and Christian women
to convert, in fact many of them do convert to Islam before marriage. Out of
the 25 or so marriages conducted in the bigger mosques, approximately 10 of
them are interfaith marriages while only 4-5 interfaith marriages conducted
at the Shahjalal Masjid.