The rules. It is something that is happening more and more frequently in India from when, last July 12, the department of fatwa of Darul Ulum-Deoband, known for being ultra-conservative, ruled that matrimony via the web is jaayaz—valid. If two witnesses are present, the intended spouses can celebrate nikah, Islamic matrimony, even if they are far apart. Maulana Khalid Safiullah Rehmani, religious scholar and authority of the Islamic Council of India, explained the rules of this new game. The internet assumes the role of mediator; valik, the witnesses of the guardians of tradition. They will have to ascertain that the documents are in order, that the rites of offering and acceptance are respected. At this point the bride can say yes. Or better: qubool hai, which means “I accept.

The reasons that have moved Koranic scholars to approve the online nikah are above all economic. Often the bride and groom live in different countries and to make one trip to prepare the documents and one to celebrate the wedding was becoming too expensive. If the wallet is grateful, the women are hesitant. Shaista Amber, president of All India Women’s Personal Law, is certainly not enthusiastic: “I continue to prefer a traditional wedding; there are so many gray zones.” According to the Association, to marry via the internet could carry negative consequences, and it would be the women who paid. 

Pioneer brides. The deliberation of the Darul Ulum came after a gestation of two years and two before that. It was in 2005, in fact, that the pioneers of the cyber-nikah told their story and opened the debate. A young woman of 26, Shabham, married in the Shivpuri cafe of Lucknow her fiance Abdul Kelaam, at the time a resident of Saudi Arabia. Newly graduated with a degree in engineering, he had decided to move from Chennai to Mecca for work but did not want to postpone the wedding for that reason. And the web aided him. Shabham appeared with a party of forty or so, put on the headphones, and began to look into Abdul’s eyes. He, however, did not see well, so he asked that the height of the video-camera be adjusted. Happy and separate, they began to celebrate when the ceremony was scarcely finished. 

The predecessors of online matrimony. If in India it is a world still waiting to be defined, weddings via the web are common enough in Pakistan, so much so that online there are blogs and forums in which to discuss their organization. Many are favorable to the cyber-nikah, like Rashid Ashraf who asked his girlfriend to marry him via chat and, to maintain the romanticism, also got married in the same way. After this discovery, matrimony via cell phone, instead, has had a slight drop in popularity, above all because the connection may be lost or there is interference. “With the webcam one sees better and yet saves” is the common opinion. Even if in reality the cyber-nikah is not truly economical. The amount ranges between $1500 and $2000 dollars, everything included. What costs the most is the broadband connection for an hour, to which are added the rental of the headphones and the telecamera. The costs for the reception, instead, are at the discretion of the single spouses. Each to his own taste.