The cleric who performed the marriage ceremony for Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi has claimed that the ceremony did not follow Islamic Sharia law. Mufti Saeed said that the initial ceremony was not conducted correctly as it occurred during the iddat period of Bushra Bibi, a waiting period that a Muslim woman must observe after the death of her husband or dissolution of the marriage. During this time, a woman cannot remarry and goes into isolation.
The controversy surrounding the marriage erupted when the cleric made the statement during a court hearing in Islamabad related to alleged “un-Islamic Nikah” of the former Prime Minister with Bushra Riaz Wattoo. Mufti Saeed claimed that Imran Khan asked him to solemnise his nikkah on January 2018, and that he was taken to Lahore’s residence to officiate the Nikah.
The cleric claimed that a woman claiming to be Bushra Bibi’s sister assured him that all requirements for the marriage under Shariah were complete, and he solemnised the Nikah between Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi on January 1, 2018 after the woman’s assurance. However, Mufti Saeed claimed that he was again contacted by Imran Khan in February 2018 to solemnise the Nikah again as Bushra Bibi’s iddat period was not complete during the first Nikah.
Mufti Saeed quoted Imran Khan as saying that Bushra Bibi had been divorced in November 2017, and that there was a “prediction” that Khan would become the Prime Minister if he married her. He added that the first Nikah was illegal which had been solemnised based on the “prediction”. The matter was brought to light after a petition was filed by one Muhammad Hanif, a citizen of Pakistan.
Before Bushra Bibi, Imran Khan was married to Jemima Goldsmith and Reham Khan.
