This article explores the strategies adopted by Muslim and Catholic spouses in celebrating and legitimizing unregistered Muslim marriages in Malta. It demonstrates how these couples’ decisions to celebrate such marriages and to introduce various ‘Catholic’ practices into their wedding ceremonies reflect the way they construct their identities and seek to socially ground them as an adaptive response to the overarching social context that also expresses their agency. These choices are contextualized in relation to the evolution of Maltese marriage law from colonial Church/State dualism until the present ‘post-Catholic’ scenario. Despite significant recent changes to marriage laws, Canon law rules continue to shape the way marriage is understood. This is important as marriage also serves a critical gate-keeping function in determining access to Maltese citizenship and residence. The article highlights the way in which the gap between formal (national) and informal (religious) law is managed by spouses and the local Imam so as to facilitate the formation of Muslim marriages.

中文翻译：

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使马耳他的穆斯林婚姻合法化：在法律和规范结构中导航

本文探讨了穆斯林和天主教配偶在马耳他庆祝和合法化未登记的穆斯林婚姻时所采用的策略。它展示了这些夫妇庆祝此类婚姻以及在婚礼仪式中引入各种“天主教”做法的决定如何反映他们构建身份的方式，并寻求在社会上将其作为对总体社会背景的适应性反应，这也表达了他们的能动性. 这些选择与马耳他婚姻法从殖民地教会/国家二元论到目前的“后天主教”情景的演变有关。尽管最近婚姻法发生了重大变化，但佳能法规则继续影响着人们对婚姻的理解。这一点很重要，因为婚姻在确定获得马耳他公民身份和居留权方面也起着关键的把关作用。文章强调了配偶和当地伊玛目管理正式（国家）和非正式（宗教）法律之间差距的方式，以促进穆斯林婚姻的形成。