Dear Spouses of Moroccans

[star_dragon 0]

My advice,

Do the civil marriage. You can have a seperate religious ceremony at a mosque. This satisfies most governments that have the "must be witnessed by 2 Muslims" clause. You will have 2 certificates, one from the mosque and one from the State of (wherever you live). If you are already civilly married, you can go to the mosque and do the religious ceremony quick and easy. If you do not have children yet, do this now!! Once you have children it throws a curve in, becuase they consider the religious ceremony the "binding" ceremony. So for us our religious ceremony was 2 months after our actual wedding (in May). Our son was born in December. They actually counted the months (based on the Islamic ceremony) to see if we were married when he was conceived. (I said he was premie...). When we tried to register in Morocco they tried to tell us we had to get married "AGAIN" in morocco to file or go back to the states and do it. If we "re-married" in Morocco then we would have to petition the judge to prove our son was born when we were legally married.

Basically it's confusing as he**. If you're not Islamically married, setup a time with the imam, spend the 30 minutes and do the ceremony. It will save you loads of headaches!

ETA: I've spent countless hours in the Moroccan embassy and consulate here in DC sorting this business out!!!

Um... what if, like me, you're not Muslim but your Moroccan husband is?

I'm in the same boat. But from what I understand, you dont have to be Muslim (but of course he does have to). If it were the other way around, and the husband was non-Muslim, then he'd have to convert.

Edited October 6, 2008 by star_dragon

[MrsAmera 41]

Yes you do not have to be Muslim to have an Islamic marriage. Sorta like if your Catholic and your spouse is Jewish, you can get married in either place.

[Carolyn 1]

So if we were married by a Justice of the Peace here in the U.S. without any Muslim witnesses and now have a child together we are in a pickle?

Edited October 6, 2008 by Carolyn

[MrsAmera 41]

Yea unfortunately. I think you will end up having to petition a judge in Morocco to prove the marriage. You could try having your civil cert. translated to Arabic first (you will have to do this anyway), and go from there. However if your child is under 1 the chances are better. If you register the birth in the first year it's way easier (so I was told- we didn't register in teh first year).

Does your husband have his family book (not the one that shows him as the son of his parents, the one that is him as an adult with you as his wife)?

Has he registered with the Moroccan embassy here?

Those are the first two things. Then you can move to the marriage and lastly the birth. Get the ball rolling because it takes time.

[Carolyn 1]

Ugh. I hate bureaucratic hassles.

Sometimes I think it might be best not to even bother--our little Ilyas is an U.S. citizen, and his papa will soon be, as well.

BTW, how does one prove that they had Muslim witnesses at a wedding?

[caybee 21]

I haven't received an answer from the consulate. I'm tempted to just send in the paperwork and see if they will register the marriage. This is what their website says:

According to the new Moudawana all marriages concluded in presence of two muslim witnesses are accepted marriage certificates and do not need to be validated in Morocco.

I'm not sure what the last part of the sentence means, but it sort of sounds like if you had two Muslim witnesses, the paperwork can be handled by the consulate (or doesn't need to be handled at all), but if not, the paperwork has to be sent to Morocco to be validated.

I guess if we have to go to the mosque and get married again, we'll do that, but we've already been legally married for 15 months, and we had hoped to have a wedding party in Morocco one day as well. Just seems like multiple dates would be confusing. So I think we'll give it a shot, nothing to lose but a little money and time, and we'll see what they say.

[caybee 21]

It appears that the pdf labeled Zawaj on this page has to do with marriage and is what the consulate referenced on their English page dealing with registering marriage. It's in Arabic, so I'll see if my husband can translate it for me later. I don't know if it will give any additional information though.

http://www.moroccanconsulate.com/moudawanat.cfm

[AlHayatZween 2]

Yes, i think you are fine, if you had the Muslim witnesses present, and perhaps a document stating so...?

Then, i think the consulate validates the marriage and you are on your way...

The problem is if, like me and some others, you didn't have the Muslim witnesses present, or if you have no documentation stating so...

[caybee 21]

Yes, i think you are fine, if you had the Muslim witnesses present, and perhaps a document stating so...?

Then, i think the consulate validates the marriage and you are on your way...

The problem is if, like me and some others, you didn't have the Muslim witnesses present, or if you have no documentation stating so...

We had only one Muslim witness -- just by chance a friend came with us -- so we're flying blind.

Here is a VJ thread from a couple of years ago.

[star_dragon 0]

Ok, I'm gonna sound really dumb here

But, when they say 2 Muslim witnesses...does that mean if you have a civil ceremony and friends are there, including Muslims, that counts as having it witnessed????

[MrsAmera 41]

I think it could but you would need them to do some sort of an affadavit or something. Generally I think they mean the witnesses that sign the marriage certificate, but I would guess there are special circumstances like this. Call the Moroccan consulate in DC and ask.

[venusfire503 54]

Ok, I still have more questions about this. Can I get married in a mosque even though I'm not Muslim? Will there be a problem since we're already married and therefore can't get another marriage license? Also, my husband doesn't seem to think this is very important, but it sounds like it might be, in order for him to get his passport renewed (at the very least). I don't think he's concerned about getting dual citizenship for any children we will have - inchalla - together in the future (we're hoping). Other than the passport, is there any reason to worry about getting him registered?

[MrsAmera 41]

Your husband can register himself with the consulate without registering the marriage.

1) Yes you can have an Islamic marriage even if you're not Muslim. They will do a contract, not a civil certificate like you already have. Your husband just needs to tell the imam you've had a civil ceremony but would like to do the Islamic ceremony as well.

2) IMO it is important to do this and register the marriage. If you plan to visit Morocco or ever move there it is important. Also any children you might have are American citizens however to me it was important that my kids had both citizenships because frankly we never know what might happen. I have a good friend whose father is Danish and she never took Danish citizenship - she really regrets it now as she would have liked to move to Europe and worked (which is a lot easier when you're an EU citizen!!).

[AlHayatZween 2]

Call the Moroccan consulate in DC and ask.

Ooooooooo... the consulate in DC! that's a good idea. i've called the consulate here in NY a few dozen times and got a response ONCE. maybe the consulate in DC is more phone-friendly.

my husband is supposed to go talk to the imam in the local mosque tonight. wish us luck.

[star_dragon 0]

Ok, another dumb question.

What if my SO isn't really a practicing Muslim? I mean, he doesn't go to the Mosque and that. Will they still marry us if he's not an active member of the Mosque? (he's not even here yet and yet I'm already thinking of this)

I guess I'm just thinking of my Catholic background and remembering when I baptized one of my Goddaughters, one of the churches my cousin's wife was looking into was really strict and wanted a letter from my Parish saying I was an active member who went to church every Sunday! (which, I wasn't).