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India Muslims and Pakistan normally follow marriage customs that are similar to those practiced by Muslims of the Middle-East, which are based on Islamic convention. These Islamic traditions were first handed down to medieval Indians by propagators of the Islamic religion that involved sultans and Moghul rulers at the time. The blueprint is the same as the Middle-Eastern Nikah,(19) a pattern seen in marriage ceremonies of Sunnis and Shias. Traditional Muslim
Indian wedding celebrations typically last for three days. Prior to the observance of the wedding ceremony proper, two separate pre-wedding rituals, which involve traditional singing and dancing, occurs in two places: at the groom’s door and at the bride’s door. On the eve of the wedding day, a Mehndi is also know as bridal service ritual or henna ceremony is held at the bride’s home. This ritual is sometimes done two days before the actual wedding day. During this bridal preparation ritual, turmeric paste is placed on the bride’s skin for the purpose of improving and brightening her complexion, after which mehndi is applied on the bride’s hands and feet by the mehndiwali, a female relative.
Now long abandoned, anointing the teeth with a powder called 'missi' in order to blacken them used to be part of Islamic wedding rituals in India.
The Indian Islamic wedding ceremony is also preceded by a marriage procession known as the groom’s baraat. From this convoy arrives the groom, who will share a sherbet drink with a brother of his bride at the place of the marriage ceremony. This drinking ritual happens as the sisters of the bride engage in tomfooleries and playfully strike guests using flower-filled cudgels.
Main part of wedding ceremony is Nikah, is officiated by the Maulvi, a priest also called Qazi. Among the important wedding participants are the Walises, or the fathers of both groom and bride.(20) and the bride's legal representative.(20) It is the bride's father who promises his daughter's hand to the groom, a ritual known as the Kanya-dhan.(20) Also in this formal occasion, particularly in conventional Islamic weddings, when men and women typically have separate seating arrangements. Another common practice are wedding sequences that include the reading of Quranic verses, the groom’s proposal and bride’s acceptance parts known as the Ijab-e-Qubul[(19) or the ijab and qabul;(20)the decision-making of the bride’s and groom’s families regarding the price of the matrimonial financial endowment known as the Mehar(20) or Mehr (a dower no less than ten dirhams[20]), which will come from the family of bridegroom. Blessings and prayers are then given by older women and other guests to the couple.(20) In return the groom gives salutatory salaam wishes to his blessers, especially to female elders. The bride also usually receives gifts known generally as the burri, which may be in the form of gold jewelries, garments, money, and the like.
