Re: rukhsati
Re: rukhsati
I agree with Raatkirani.
Personally, i'm tired of ppl complaining about how our culture is this or that...if the whole rukhsati thing is cultural, wot's wrong with that...it's not like we r ignoring our religion, we do the Nikkah and we know that it means they r a married couple from that point on...but, i don't see anything bad about having the rukhsati custom. If we didn't have things like that or everyone's culture was the same, following one standard protocol, i think the world wud be quite boring.
Re: rukhsati
Good point KashmirRainDrops! I don't understand why people are getting bent out of shape whether or not a Nikah is done in advance.
The vast majority of couples have the Nikah and Rukhsati on one day. But a lot of couples don't for a million reasons. Lately, it's gotten popular to do the Nikah well in advance so the couple can go out without sinning or feeling guilty. Particularly, if the couple is already in love, boundaries can be crossed very easily (hand holding, being alone, going out on dated unchaperone, etc are all sinful between unmarried people).
An advance Nikah is also good for an arranged couple because it allows them to communicate and get to know one another before the big day. Not all families are liberal enough to let their daughter talk one on one with her fiance. It makes the transition for the girl easier since her fiance is not a total stranger. I'm sure girls were terrified in the old days when they were married off to strangers they had only seen for the first time at the wedding.
Bottom line, both ways are equally fine.
Re: rukhsati
Nikkah is the marriage contract. The Rukhsati, culturally, is equivalent to consummating the marriage, since the couple starts living together.
Religiously, you are allowed to consummate the marriage right after the nikkah. There is no Rukhsati religiously; the Nikkah presupposes that the couple will live together.
People do it, as usual, for their own political reasons. No one should have to go thru with the wait-for-rukhsati-after-nikkah deal if they don't want to.