to sign and to cherish
Magnificent and Meaningful Muslim Wedding Contracts
Silsila is proud to have revived the Nikahnama tradition of a beautiful and intentional written Muslim wedding contract, to be cherished. Since launching in 2017, we have served thousands of Muslim weddings. All of our designs are by real Muslim artisans, real calligraphers, and include a Nikah text written by Muslim scholars.
﷽.
ni·kāh·nā·mā
n. a
Muslim wedding contract, signed by the couple in front of a group of witnesses. Traditionally, nikahnamas were beautifully embellished, a treasured heirloom item. But most modern nikahnamas are just black and white pieces of legalese or free Shutterstock art, without a second thought of the incredibly sacred moment of nikah.
Not anymore.
Our Nikahnama Promise to You
Only real art, no clip art.
Our nikahnama are real designs by real artists. Each nikahnama design started out by hand on paper, giving them a handmade feel that sets them apart from the rest. They are either original ideas, or reimagined historical manuscripts by real artists. We do not license any designs from stock websites, and instead support the work of real artists.
We solely own the copyright to all of our nikahnamas, which is why our designs are so unique. We believe that the use of stock graphics threatens the creativity in our community and the livelihood of traditional Islamic artisans. Read more here.
Supporting a chain of tradition
Our calligraphy is as beautiful as it is because it is commissioned by us and composed by hand, by real certified calligraphers with ijazah (the Arabic calligrapher's diploma) before being scanned and processed for our nikahnamas. Our compositions are copyrighted and unique. More beautiful art by our artisans can be found at our sister site, Silsila.
We can also include custom calligraphy of the couples' names as a tughra seal as a part of your nikahnama.
Partnering with real Muslim scholars
We have also worked with Islamic scholars to provide a full 4-page marriage contract with precise, shariah-compliant wording, that is sent digitally with each order. It includes statements of all of the requirements for a valid nikah as well as optional appendix points. Our nikahnama packages are real contracts, not just pretty pieces of paper
Purchasing is Easy.
1. Choose from our nikah or anniversary texts
2. Select your design, add your nikah details
3. After purchase, we'll send you a proof to review before fulfilling your order (limit 3 rounds of proofs)
Our collection
Reviving a tradition
The nikahnama (synonyms: marriage contract, aqd-nama, kabin-nama, and many other names in different languages) has been a traditional Islamic document that has been used for centuries at the time of nikah (marriage). Unlike other common Islamic legal documents, nikahnamas were often much more colorful and decorated: before the era of photographs, nikahnamas were often the only piece of memorabilia from a wedding. While not a required document for a nikah, they’ve been used in several Islamic societies from Iran to Kashmir.
The nikahnama text generally begins with the basmala and a qur’anic verse pertaining to marriage. It follows its the details about the couple along with the agreed upon mahr (or dowry.)
Nikahnamas would always be attested by at least two witnesses (as required by Islamic law) with their signature and seals. The contracts were usually a page long though the actual page could reach almost a meter in length!) If they were more than a page, the first page would generally be the most ornate. The designs would usually consist of flowers, diamonds, or other shapes and would be embellished with different colored inks and gold.
19th century
A Qajar nikahnama
This 19th century nikahnama is a classic Qajar style, with text in the center and signature boxes in the marginalia. Our Ziya design closely resembles this nikahnama.
Handcrafted beauty
The calligrapher's touch
All of our Arabic work and traditional illumination designs are in consultation with trained islamic calligraphers and illuminators.
Our story
We founded nikahnama in 2017 after seeing potential in the idea of making beautiful nikahnamas available again for customers. We hope that our products help more couples think deeply about their nikah contract and the values they want to base their marriage upon. Too many married couples were only able to review their nikahnama in the brief moments before signing it, making huge marital decisions in minutes, and we hope that that changes.
With nikahnama, we also hope to make the traditional Islamic arts more accessible, and to help support Islamic artists. Travelling through the Islamic arts we found too many artist who were unable to sustain their craft (a miniaturist resorting to graffiti! a Mughal fresco painter resorting to knitting!) We hope to do our own small part in sustaining our religion's beautiful centuries-old art forms.
Press
The Christian Science Monitor[It's] about more than making objects that couples can hang on their walls. It’s also about giving Muslim marriages a more solid foundation. [Link]
Religion News ServiceIf it takes attracting people with pretty calligraphy to make them realize the importance of the nikah contract, then so be it. [Link]
Get in touch
Contact us.
We're always open to questions, feedback, and letters of love! If there is anything we can do, please feel free to contact us.