Marriage sermon

The delivery of a sermon before the announcement of marriage is another factor which helps the publicity of the marriage, and, at the same time, serves the double purpose of giving it a sacred character and making it an occasion for the education of the community. When the friends and relatives of both parties have assembled, a sermon is delivered by someone from among the party, or by the Imām, before announcing the marriage itself. The text of this sermon, as reported from the Holy Prophet by Ibn Mas‘ūd, consists of tashahhud, with which every sermon generally opens, and of three verses of the Holy Qur’ān. Tashahhud, literally, means the act of bearing witness, and technically the bearing of witness to the Unity of God and the prophethood of Muḥammad, and the tashahhud of the marriage sermon consists of the following words:

Al-ḥamdu li-llāhī naḥ maduhū wa nasta‘īnu-hū wa nastaghfiru-hū wa na-‘ūdhu bi-llāhi min shurūri anfusi-nā wa min sayyi’āti a‘māli-nā, man yahdi-hi-llāhu fa-lā mudzilla la-hū wa man yudzlil fa-lā hādiya la-hū, wa ashhadu an lā ilā ha ill-Allāhu wa ashhadu anna Muḥammad-an ‘abdu-hū wa rasūlu-hū.
All praise is due to Allāh; we praise Him and we beseech Him for help and we ask for His protection and we seek refuge in Allāh from the mischiefs of our souls, and from the evil of our deeds; whomsoever Allāh guides there is none who can lead him astray and whom Allāh finds in error, there is none to guide him; and I bear witness that there is no god but Allāh and that Muḥammad is his servant and His Messenger.