Hi all!
I am enquiring about whether it is possible for two foreign muslim visitors to Bali to have our nikah while we are there? FYI: I am on a New Zealand passport, and my fiance is on an Egyptian passport. He is a born muslim and i converted a few years ago. We are looking to visit some time next year. We are also in our late 20s/early 30s, and have both never been married before.
I realise that we could have a combined civil marriage alongside an officially registered nikah in Indonesia, however we won't have the time in our schedule or current financially resources to also travel to Jakarta to sort out the legal paperwork (where our embassies are).
We've decided that it would be much easier to have a civil marriage in New Zealand, however the New Zealand trip will be after the Bali one! It is my understanding that in Indonesia this type of ceremony is called a 'Nikah Siri', and as long as we have two witnesses, a wali, mahr and an imam conducting it is halal and valid (like a nikah anywhere else). This would allow us to cohabit when necessary as husband and wife (islamically), while we organise our legal wedding in New Zealand later next year. Logistically not possible to have a nikah in Egypt or NZ at this point due to work conflicts. A nikah while we are both in Bali together would be ideal.
Does anyone have any information about local mosques/imams in Bali who speak English that would be able to conduct this for us? Any help or contacts at all would be much appreciated! I would love to try to organise as much of this as I can before our arrival into Bali.
Cheers!