Sierra Leone forward Mohamed Buya Turay has clarified that he did not miss his wedding to seal a move to Swedish club Malmo as has widely been reported, but that it was a Nikkah ceremony, where his absence was not unusual.
Turay was reported to have opted to join his new club Malmo for his unveiling on the day of his nuptials, with the ceremony going on without him as his brother slotted in for him.
The report left observers bemused but the player has now explained that he did not leave his bride Suad Baydoun to conduct the ceremony ‘alone’, but what happened was perfectly in order according to Islamic tradition.
“The whole social media trending on my marriage situation, which I said my brother [represented] to represents me, that [is] him on the pictures on that day, [I went to] do to my job to come to Sweden,” Turay said via a post on social media.
“I [am] presenting you the whole misconception of the wedding (Nikkah marriage) in Sierra Leone,” the post further read.
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A Nikkah is a contract between a husband and wife and forms part of one of the stages in an Islamic marriage.
The Nikkah involves the husband and wife signing a contract, which will be witnessed by the wife’s father or another male family member and a male from the husband’s family.
By signing the contract, the wife will indicate her permission for the marriage and to complete the ceremony, and both will verbally confirm that they accept one another in marriage.
The ceremony had been reportedly set on July 21, the same day Malmo wanted Turay to report for pre-season training and he was said to have chosen his club over the nuptials.
Both Turay and Baydoun had also posed for pictures in their wedding outfits before he jetted off to Sweden and the 27-year-old later posted the images online.
“We got married on July 21 in Sierra Leone. But I was not there because Malmo asked me to arrive earlier,” Turay told Swedish outlet Aftonbladet.
“We took the picture beforehand, so it looks like I was there, but I was not. My brother got to represent me at the actual wedding.”
Turay, who made his Malmo debut on Thursday when they won 3-0 against Diddeleng in the third qualifying round of the Uefa Europa League, played his first league match on Sunday when he started in the club’s 2-1 loss away to Sirius.