A Pakistani cleric who solemnised former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi's wedding has revealed that the ceremony was not conducted in accordance with Islamic Sharia law, as per a report in news agency PTI. Mufti Mohammad Saeed, the cleric who solemnised the couple's Islamic marriage in 2018, said it took place during the iddat period of Bushra Bibi.
The iddat period, which usually lasts three months, is defined as the waiting period that a Muslim woman must observe on account of the death of her husband or the dissolution of the marriage.
According to the news agency, Mr Saeed provided the testimony on Wednesday during the hearing of a petition seeking legal action against the Chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf for marrying his current wife Bushra Bibi while she was allegedly on Iddat.
The petition was filed by Muhammad Hanif after which the issue came in public domain. The cleric said that he had a good relationship with the former PM and was also a member of his core committee. He added that Mr Khan took him to Lahore to perform the couple's Nikkah.
According to him, a woman identifying herself as Ms Bushra's sister told him that the couple was allowed to get married because all Sharia prerequisites for their wedding had been satisfied.
Mr Saeed claimed that he officiated their marriage on January 1, 2018, and following the same, the couple began living together in Islamabad.
According to the cleric, Mr Khan, however, got in touch with him again in February 2018 and asked him to perform the ceremony once again, claiming that Ms Bushra's iddat period had not yet ended at the time of their first Nikah because she had divorced in November 2017. Therefore, the ex-PM deemed their first wedding with Bushra Bibi to be not in accordance with Sharia.
The cleric was quoted as saying by Pakistan newspaper Dawn that Mr Khan and Bushra Bibi "deliberately entered into an illegal and un-Islamic union for the sake of a mere prediction" as the former was convinced that he would become the Prime Minister if he gets married on New Year's Day in 2018.
He added that on the fourth day of Ramadan, petitioner Muhammad Hanif contacted him after Taraweeh prayers and asked about the couple's marriage, to which he gave the specifics.
