Our Journal

Online Nikah in Monaco

Monaco has approximately 200 to 280 Muslim residents — one of the smallest Muslim communities of any independent state in Europe — yet it sits at the centre of one of the world's greatest concentrations of Muslim wealth. Gulf royal families, Saudi billionaires, and Emirati investors are among Monaco's most prominent non-citizen residents and visitors, attending the Formula 1 Grand Prix, the Casino de Monte-Carlo, and the yacht shows in their tens of thousands. Yet there is no mosque in Monaco. The Muslim community crosses the border on foot into Beausoleil, France, for Friday prayers. And Monaco's civil marriage law — requiring 30 days of continuous residency before the ceremony — means that even the wealthiest Muslim visitor cannot marry here during a short stay. This guide explains Monaco's unique Muslim landscape, its civil marriage framework, and how an online nikah works for the small permanent community and the passing wealthy elite alike.

Online Nikah in Andorra

Andorra is Europe's only co-principality — jointly governed by the French President and the Spanish Bishop of Urgell, two heads of state who share sovereignty over a Pyrenean microstate of 89,000 people. Its Muslim community of approximately 2,000 residents — predominantly Moroccan workers — represents 2 to 3 percent of the population and has negotiated with the government for years over mosque construction without resolution. Andorra has no recognised mosque and no dedicated Muslim cemetery. In February 2023, Andorra's new Family Code came into force, legalising same-sex marriage and introducing no-fault divorce. Civil and religious marriages are both registerable, but at least one party must be an Andorran citizen or resident. The 14-day Official Gazette publication period is one of the shorter notice periods in Europe. This guide explains Andorra's unique governance, its Muslim community's situation, and how an online nikah works alongside the Civil Registry.

Online Nikah in Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico is a US territory whose Muslim community began with Palestinian and Jordanian immigrants arriving in the late 1950s — people displaced by the 1948 Arab-Israeli war who found their way to a Caribbean island already shaped by displacement and migration. Today Puerto Rico has approximately 5,000 Muslims, nine mosques, and a growing community of Puerto Rican converts searching for what they call "Boricua Islamidad" — a uniquely Caribbean-Islamic identity that resists both assimilation into Arab cultural norms and alienation from Puerto Rican family life. Puerto Rico's marriage law operates under the 2020 New Civil Code, administered by the Registro Demográfico, and uniquely requires medical examinations before the marriage ceremony. An authorised officiant (judge, lawyer-notary, or minister) must be registered with the Demographic Registry. This guide explains Puerto Rico's distinctive marriage framework and how an online nikah serves its convert-majority community.

Online Nikah in Guatemala

Guatemala's Muslim community of approximately 2,000 people — 95 percent of Palestinian Arab origin — carries one of the most politically fraught histories of any Muslim community in the Americas. President Jorge Ubico's 1936 decree restricted Arab-owned businesses, forcing many Arab immigrants to assimilate through naturalization, intermarriage, and conversion to Catholicism. The surviving Muslim community operates the Da'wah Mosque near Reforma Avenue in Guatemala City, while the Ahmadiyya community built Central America's first Ahmadiyya mosque in Guatemala City in 1989. Guatemala's RENAP civil registry allows notaries, judges, and ministers of religion as authorised officiants — opening a potential pathway for a registered imam to conduct a legally recognised ceremony. This guide explains Guatemala's distinctive history, civil marriage framework, and how an online nikah serves its Muslim community.

Online Nikah in Nicaragua

Nicaragua has between 1,200 and 1,500 Muslims — predominantly Palestinians and Lebanese who arrived across three immigration waves from the late 19th century onward, plus a small Iranian Shia community whose presence grew significantly after Daniel Ortega's return to power in 2006 brought a "stark positive change" in government-Muslim relations and close diplomatic ties with Tehran. The first mosque was built in 1999 with assistance from Panamanian Muslims; a second followed in 2009. Nicaragua's civil marriage framework requires a Nicaraguan notary or judge to officiate — no minister of religion pathway as in Guatemala — and the marriage must be registered at the Civil Registry under the Consejo Supremo Electoral. This guide explains Nicaragua's politically distinctive Muslim community, its civil marriage requirements, and how an online nikah works.

Online Nikah in Costa Rica

Costa Rica's Muslim community — estimated between 1,000 and 7,500 people depending on the source, in a country of five million — carries several features unique in Central America. It is the only country in the region with a Khoja Shia community. Its principal mosque, the Omar Mosque in San José, was founded by Dr. Abdulfatah Sasa, a Palestinian doctor who arrived in 1973 and gathered 14 Muslims in his home before building an institution. And the Omar Mosque is presided over by Jennifer Rashida Torres — a woman leading a mosque congregation, an extraordinary fact rarely highlighted in coverage of Central American Islam. Costa Rica's civil marriage requires a notary public or judge to officiate, with the notary responsible for registering the marriage with the Registro Civil within eight days. This guide explains Costa Rica's remarkable Muslim community, its civil marriage system, and how an online nikah fills the Islamic gap the notary cannot.