Lucknow, India - Scores of Muslim couples lined up before a cleric in an Uttar Pradesh village for a fresh nikah (marriage) after a fatwa invalidated their marriages.
The edict invalidated all marriages in the sect simply because its members had participated in a Namaz-e-Janaza or namazat (funeral), led by the moulvi (cleric) of another Muslim sect 20 days earlier.
Maulana Mohammad Masood, the moulvi of a village mosque in Sultanpur district, about 150 km from here, termed the namaz as un-Islamic because the system followed was not in line with the prescription of the Barelvi school of Islam.
No one took him seriously when he initially declared that the nikah of all those who participated in the namaz stood invalidated.
However, he sought and received ratification to that effect from the head of the Barelvi school, from where the fatwa was issued Wednesday.
As the news broke out Thursday, dozens of married Muslim couples in the village made a beeline for the local moulvi to perform their nikah afresh.
Unconfirmed reports said that more than 100 couples had sought fresh nikah.