New Muslimah, New Wife

A day after we were visited by the aforementioned Japanese muslimah, we received another request – for hubby to officiate a new Muslim revert and right after that, to act as qadhi for a nikah ceremony. Hubby who had never seen how these two ceremonies were carried out in Japan before, advised the man who came to see him to call a representative of Islamic Circle. He called the former president of Islamic Circle, who then asked hubby if he could do it. Hubby said that since he had never undertake such responsibility before and since he’s still not good in Nihongo, he would rather somebody else do it. The former president of Islamic Circle then advised the man to call him on Thursday morning to confirm his attendance for the new muslim reversion and wedding ceremony on Thursday night.

Thursday morning – we were awake to the sound of some Japanese man asking permission to enter the house. There were three of them, to do some renovation works on the house, as promised to us by Islamic Circle. The house was not in pristine condition when we entered it about two weeks ago – leaking roof, closet sliding doors falling apart, tattered wallpapers in living area, really shabby wallpapers in the toilet and wash area, broken toilet seat plus there were cockroaches everywhere. Back in Gyotoku, our house was a typical Japanese apartment – no ants, no cockroaches and the mosquitoes were quite recent, making their appearance as summer began. Therefore, after our first visit to the house, the representative of Islamic Circle promised that they would clean and do some reformation on the house before we entered it. They managed to clean the house up a bit before we entered it, but as for the reform, after not getting suitable quotations from various contractors, they decided to wait until after we were settled in before getting another quotation, which finally met their budget. Hence the belated renovation work being carried out on last Thursday.

That day, hubby spent most of the day rearranging books while I looked after Huzaifah and read a few children books at the small library in the Muslimah praying area. The house was such a mess, so I could not cook. We ate microwave-reheated leftover food from the day before and I had to bathe Huzaifah at the men wudhu’ area. It wasn’t until about five in the evening when the contractor called us, telling us that they were done and asked us to see for ourselves what had been done. He politely asked us to let the president of Islamic Circle know if anything is not up to standard and he would be in touch with the president.

Not long after we returned to the comfort of our newly reformed house, someone knocked on the door – asking us if the former president of Islamic Circle has already arrived since the Japanese girl who wished to revert to Islam as well as her husband-to-be and respective party were waiting downstairs. I let him used to mosque’s phone to call the Islamic Circle representative himself – and though they spoke in Urdu, it wasn’t difficult to guess that all was not well when the man handed the phone over to me.

“Sister, can your husband handle the conversion and marriage ceremony?”
I was stunned.
Just then, hubby emerged out of the bathroom and I asked him to speak directly to the Islamic Circle representative.

The Islamic Circle brother told us that he was still at home because the man who was supposed to call him that morning did not do so and so he thought that there would be no ceremony in the evening that day. He then asked if hubby could officiate these two ceremonies on Islamic Circle behalf, claiming that they were quite easy and nothing to worry about. Hubby then passed the phone back to me, so that I could get more details written down, since the ceremonies were supposed to be carried out in Nihongo.

The conversion ceremony is quite easy since the script is written out in both Arabic and Katakana with its meaning in Nihongo in the New Muslim certificate. All hubby had to do was to recite the syahadah as well as the rukun iman and ask the girl to repeat after him.

The nikah ceremony is a bit tricky though.

In a lintang pukang way, I wrote down the akad in Nihongo – including pre-nikah questions regarding the mahar and the witnesses, the akad questions to be asked to the bride and the groom and the pronouncement of them being legally wedded husband and wife. The Arabic khutbah nikah is written in the Islamic Circle diary, which hubby has, together with its translation in Nihongo. The doa is up to hubby. Finally, hubby should ask if there’s any additional gift for the bride from the groom, and with that final question, the ceremony would be over.

Hubby had to take care of the paperwork too – preparing both the New Muslim certificate as well as the Muslim Marriage certificate. By then it was already Maghrib. He quickly distributed the forms to be filled and signed by the respective parties, leaving them at that while he led Maghrib prayer.

After Maghrib, hubby and I had a small consultation session, on how to carry out both ceremonies smoothly. We checked with the party first if it was possible for us to conduct the ceremony in English, but since the bride-to-be could not speak English, we decided to heed the Islamic Circle brother's advice and and conducted it in Nihongo. I wrote out the akad in romanized Nihongo for hubby, double checking with the man acting as the arranger of the ceremony if the questions were appropriate and fitting. Since he is a Pakistani who married a Nihonjin himself, I felt reassured when he vetted the script I wrote for hubby.

So, on that blessed malam Jumaat, I witnessed the reversion of a new Muslim sister, followed by a simple nikah ceremony.

It was obvious that the new sister was not prepared for the reversion ceremony. Chances are, if she was well-prepared, reciting the syahadah would not be that tough for her. Because she stumbled here and there, despite reading the katakana form of the syahadah – she had to repeat the syahadah a couple of times. Reading Arabic sentences could be really challenging for Japanese due to the differences in pronunciation, so I was relieved to see the new sister being encouraged and assisted by another Japanese muslimah as she struggled in reciting the syahadah.


Right after the syahadah, she repeated the Rukun Iman in Arabic after hubby. After which, hubby gave a short introduction on Rukun Iman and Rukun Islam. The arranger of the ceremony and the groom took turn translating hubby’s explanation in halting English to Nihongo. Once in a while, her female friend helped out when the new sister seemed somewhat perplexed by what she heard. Obviously, she has a lot to learn about this religion she had chosen now.

Hubby chose to finish the paperwork for New Muslim registration after the syahadah recital. He then presented a copy of the New Muslim certificate along with a Islamic Cirlce diary which consisted a lot of interesting facts and data for Muslim to the new sister. She seemed excited, saying that she could not wait to show her father in Okinawa the certificate. Alhamdulillah, apparently she faced no objection from her parents when she told them that she would like to become a Muslim and marry a Muslim man.

Next, the nikah ceremony.

Hubby double checked with me, re-reading the questions one final time before he asked the respective parties the assigned questions. The akad was over and done with in no time – and the next thing he knew, he was to read the khutbah nikah. After he was done with the short khutbah, the bride and her female friend read the translation of the khutbah together. The friend said that she was not given a translation of the khutbah during her nikah ceremony three years ago, so it was also the first time she read for herself the content of the khutbah.

By Isyak, both ceremonies were over and done with. Took some pictures together, let the newly wed played with Huzaifah for a while and we exchanged phone numbers. The sister who has been a Muslim for the past three years confessed that she still has a lot to learn about Islam, just as mush as the new sister has. They live in Yokohama, far away from Asakusa, and they are both busy with work, so it’s difficult for them to attend any class organized in this mosque. I asked them to call me anytime anyway, should they have any question, and maybe I could introduce them to other Japanese muslimah who might address their questions more to their satisfaction. As it is, I am still learning Nihongo and might have problem explaining things since they can’t speak English well. They both thanked me profusely, and I wished the new sister the prerequisite “ganbatte ne” – it’s going to be a lot different now that she is both a new muslim and a new wife.

Hubby quickly finished the paperwork and handed over to both husband and wife a copy each of the Muslim Marriage certificate. The groom shared some sweets he received from his family in Pakistan and the party then departed, went on to have dinner together at a restaurant some where in Tokyo.

I noticed that there was no lafaz taklik – apparently, it’s not common here like it is in Malaysia for the groom to state there and then that if he ever be inconsiderate towards the wife in certain ways, they then would automatically be divorced. I wondered about it as I wondered about the new sister’s future with her hubby, remembering the recent sad story I heard from another Japanese sister – and I made a quick doa in my heart that their marriage would be blessed and long lasting.