Our Journal

Nikah Without a Mosque: Muslim Marriage in Europes Microstates

Liechtenstein, one of Europe's smallest sovereign states, has no mosque at all — and government authorities have repeatedly rejected applications to build one, or even to establish a Muslim cemetery. This is the honest reality for Muslims connected to several of Europe's smallest countries.

Mosques in Unlikely Places: The Nikah Community of Northern New England

A former computer repair shop in Vermont. A dance studio, then a spot below a beauty school, in New Hampshire. A 1964 church parish house in Portsmouth. Northern New England's small, growing Muslim communities have found worship space in some genuinely unlikely places.

A People Often Mistaken for Muslim, and the Community That Actually Is: Moldova

Moldova's Gagauz people speak a Turkic language and are frequently mistaken for Muslim — they are, in fact, devout Orthodox Christians. The country's real, small Muslim community traces to Ottoman-era Tatar settlers and worships at Moldova's single operational mosque, on the outskirts of the capital.

New Medinah: A Nikah Tradition Built From Scratch in Rural Mississippi

In the mid-1980s, Abdul Hakim Shareef and a small group of fellow African American Muslims pooled their savings to found New Medinah, Mississippi — a 64-acre community built on the dream of a fully self-sufficient Islamic life. Its founder, now in his 80s, hopes it outlives him.

Nikah Legal Recognition: A Country-by-State Comparison Chart

One question comes up more than any other on this site: does a nikah count as our legal marriage, or do we need something else too? The honest answer is that it depends entirely on where you are — so here it is, in one place, organized by category rather than scattered across dozens of separate country and state pages.

Nikah Witness Requirements: How Different States and Countries Treat Them

A valid nikah always requires two qualifying witnesses under Islamic law — but whether the state you're in requires any witnesses at all, and what it does with them, varies dramatically. Some states require none. Some bar the officiant from also serving as one. A few build the witness requirement directly into their legal definition of marriage itself.