SERI KEMBANGAN, Selangor: It was one of the biggest days of her life and Siti Jaslin Johari was dressed in her best – a tan-coloured hijab and cream baju kurung.
She was sitting beside her father on the sofa in their living room, facing the television. On its screen was a live feed of her fiance, Muhammad Ameer Ashraf, reciting his marriage vows.
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As he uttered the promise to take care of her in fulfilling his duty as a loving husband, tears fell down Siti Jaslins cheek and she used her sleeve to wipe them off quickly. Her father noticed and kissed her forehead lovingly.
Siti Jaslin and Muhammad Ameer, both 25, had been close friends for seven years, and now they were finally getting married.
“I was not sad that I had to get married online. I was happy and grateful because we were finally halal as husband and wife,” said Siti Jaslin in a phone interview with CNA.
“Among my five siblings and I, I am the first to get married and I was honoured to have my dad alongside me,” she added.
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Siti Jaslin Johari and Muhammad Ameer Ashraf posing together on their wedding day. (Photo: Twitter/@theghrack)
Of course, getting married online was not their Plan A.
Siti Jaslin, a marketing major at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia and Muhammad Ameer, an electrical engineering undergraduate at Universiti Tenaga Nasional, had planned on having the ceremony on a dias in a big hall, witnessed in person by all their family and friends.
However, because of the movement control order (MCO) imposed by the Malaysian government to curb the spread of COVID-19, the pair had to get married in their respective homes and could not even hug or put wedding rings on each others fingers.
But for Siti Jaslin, an online solemnisation ceremony was “more than sufficient”.
“We didnt want to delay getting married anymore. We were offered the chance to do the nikah ceremony online, so we jumped on it,” she said.
The pair decided to hold the ceremony after the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (JAIS) announced on Apr 20 that solemnisation ceremonies could be done via video conferencing, provided both the bride and groom had submitted their required documents for approval.
WEDDING RECEPTION CANCELLED DUE TO MCO
Siti Jaslin and Muhammad Ameer had initially planned a wedding reception for Apr 4, as the date 4/4/2020 was memorable.
However, as the virus continued to spread across the country in late March and early April, the basic tenets for hosting a wedding became dangerous and eventually illegal under the MCO. A large gathering of people, including elderly relatives, felt less like a celebration and more like a reckless move, so the couple decided to postpone the wedding indefinitely.
The couple announcing the cancellation of their wedding reception due to Malaysia's movement control order. (Photo: Twitter/@theghrack)
However, when JAIS permitted online solemnisation, they thought a good opportunity had come their way.
“We had already completed all the required procedures by JAIS to get married, which included attending a wedding preparation course and doing a HIV test. And our form (approval from JAIS) also has an expiry date, so we decided that it was best to just do the ceremony online,” said Siti Jaslin.
READ: Just the two of us – Israeli couple ties knot to beat coronavirus blues
She and Muhammad Ameer contacted JAIS and their request to hold the ceremony on Apr 22 was accepted.
Following protocol by JAIS, the two families had to install the video conferencing app Skype and conduct a rehearsal 24 hours before the scheduled ceremony to check if the network connectivity was fine.
On the actual day, only a handful of people were required to be present on the Skype video feed.
For the brides family, Siti Jaslin, her father, who is her legal guardian, and two witnesses were required to be present. Meanwhile for the grooms family, only Muhammad Ameer needed to be in front of the camera. The rest of their family members at home remained in the background.
A third party consisting of a marriage official employed by JAIS to lead proceedings was also digitally present.
Siti Jaslin streamed her wedding video on Facebook Live so that their loved ones could tune in and post congratulatory messages in the comment section.
SELANGOR AND FEDERAL TERRITORIES PERMIT ONLINE MUSLIM WEDDINGS
The newlyweds, who co-own a modern fashion online store, also posted on their business Twitter page to show how their wedding ceremony was conducted.
The Twitter thread garnered more than 79,000 likes and 35,000 retweets, with many people congratulating the couple and expressing interest in how they did it.
However, some critics were skeptical of the legitimacy of the ceremony. This is because in Islamic tradition, the groom, the bride, her legal guardian and two witnesses need to be physically present for the marriage to be recognised as legal.
So far, only Selangor and the federal territories allow online Muslim weddings, but not the other states. As of last Monday, JAIS has approved 13 out of the 364 applications received, according to Selangor government's official media SelangorKini.
Neighbouring country Singapore, where residents' movements are restricted by circuit breaker measures, is set to introduce a Bill that could soon allow marriages to be solemnised remotely using technology from aRead More – Source
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