1. Can a Nikah Khutbah be recited and lecture be delivered by Groom on the occassion of Nikah/Marriage in presence of family members and other people ? 2. Can a groom make ejaab and the bride make Qabool in presence of their walis?

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.

First of all, it should be mentioned that the marriage contract does not have a specific form but there are some conditions that must be met in it for it to be valid; indeed, we have already clarified these conditions in Fatwa 83629.

The 'Eejaab (proposal) should be from the guardian of the wife or from his representative, and the Qabool (acceptance) should be from the husband or his representative. According to the Hanafi School, the 'Eejaab is the wording that is firstly said by either of the spouses and the Qabool is the wording said secondly [as a response to the first wording].

If by your statement “the bride makes the Qabool”, you mean that she initially marries off herself by her own self, or as a way of being authorized to do so by her guardian, then this is not permissible even in the presence of her guardian, because it is not permissible for a woman to marry off herself according to the preponderant view of the jurists contrarily to the opinion of the Hanbali School of jurisprudence. This is also because the conditions that should be met by the representative of the guardian are the same as the conditions that should be met by the guardian himself, like being male, being adult and the like, as stated by the jurists .

On the other hand, if what is meant is that the guardian would marry her off and she expresses her consent [approval] as well, then this is permissible because the person who married her off in reality is her guardian.

Finally, it should be noted that it is not a condition for the validity of the marriage contract that a Khutbah should be delivered when conducting it, but this is something desirable and it should be delivered with Khutbatul-Haajah (i.e. the opening speech - which is the one with which the Imaam usually starts the Friday speech). For more benefit on the wording of Khutbatul-Haajah, please refer to Fatwa 92746.

Al-Buhooti said in his book entitled Kashshaaf Al-Qinaa’: “It is desirable that the marriage contract be after the Khutbah of  ‘Abdullaah Ibn Mas’ood (i.e. the opening speech reported by him from the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) which the person conducting the contract or anyone one else among the audience says before the 'Eejaab and Qabool.” What he means with this is the Khutbatul-Haajah.

Therefore, it is permissible for the husband to deliver this Khutbah. Also, it is permissible for the husband or anyone else to deliver a speech on the occasion of the marriage contract.

Allaah Knows best.