Guide
What should be written
in the nikah nama
The nikah nama is a contract, and its columns are there to be filled in. Most are left blank, and what was never written cannot be relied on later. This page shows what the columns are for and why it is worth an hour with an advocate before the wedding, especially when one of you lives abroad.
Where this applies This page covers a nikah performed and registered in Pakistan on the standard form. How the country you live in treats the terms of a nikah nama is a separate question for that country.
What this is about
The form asks for the mehr and how it is to be paid. It asks whether the husband gives the wife the right to divorce herself, and whether his own right to divorce is limited in any way. It asks for any other conditions the two agree on. Each of these is a column, and a column that is struck through or left empty is read later as if the two agreed to nothing.
For a couple who will live abroad, the empty columns matter more. Disputes come up in another country, years later, and the nikah nama is the one Pakistani document that both sides will be asked to produce. What it says then is what was written now.
What has to be in place
What has to be settled before the nikah, not on the day.
The mehr: the amount, and whether it is paid at the nikah or later.
Whether the wife will have the right to divorce herself, and on what terms.
Any other conditions the two want written: where they will live, what happens to property, anything both accept.
Note Your advocate confirms which of these apply to your case.
The documents you will be asked for
The papers involved.
- The nikah nama form, read in full before it is filled in.
- Identity documents of both.
- A written note of what the two have agreed, so that the registrar writes the same thing.
How an advocate helps from where you are
What an advocate does before the wedding.
- Reads the form with you and explains each column in plain words.
- Drafts the conditions so that they are clear and will hold.
- Checks after the nikah that what was agreed is what the registrar wrote, and that the marriage was registered.
What to ask before you agree
- Which columns should we fill in, and what should each say?
- How is the wife’s right to divorce written so that it holds?
- Will you check what the registrar wrote against what we agreed?
- What do you need from me, and by when?
- What is your fee, and what is not included in it?
More in Ending a marriage
Words you will meet
- nikah nama
- The standard marriage document in Pakistan, with numbered columns.
- delegated divorce
- The husband giving the wife the right to end the marriage herself, written in the nikah nama.
- mehr
- The sum promised to the wife at the marriage, written in the nikah nama.
Sources
Official pages read on 11 September 2026. The page says only what these say, and what an advocate does; nothing specific to your case.
Checked
11 September 2026
Pakistan. Sources listed at the end of the page.