Mu' meneen Brothers and Sisters,

As Salaam Aleikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh. (May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be upon all of you)

One of our brothers/sisters has asked this question:

A.O.A i have a situation today to discuss here and hope u will solve my problem. I married a girl whom i loved secretly last year, we both were happy, but didnt tell our parents abt that marriage.After a month of our marriage i told my family abt our marriage and they agreed to visit girls family and ask to agree upon our marriage, but the girl stopped me and said she was studying and her family would not allow this marriage at that time,she said my family that they can visit her family next year when she finishes her studies.I waited whole year and this year when i asked my wife to allow my family to visit her parents she told me that her family fixed her marriage in her family and asked me what to do?? i got angry and said her tht this is the time to reveal on her family abt our marriage i gave her alot space and time to tell her family abt our marriage but she couldnt, finally my mother went her home and asked her mother about our marriage,her mother refuses and said its too late now, the thing is tht the girl didnt allow my mother to reveal abt our marriage to her mother and my mother did so as she said.

Her family took her to their village and the girl phoned me one day and told me tht her family doing her nikah with someone else on tht day,with a very hurt heart i had to divorce her on tht day and her nikah was done on the same day with tht man.

After her nikah she came back and we both came to know tht she was pregnant. Now i have few questions to ask plzzz.

1- was her nikah with tht man valid??

2-she was pregnant and we didnt knw before giving her divorce abt this, so her nikah was legal with tht man?

3-she wants to come back to me as she repent the silent she kept of nt revealing our marriage to her family, what can we do now to resolve this issue?

plz help me as i am so upsetwhat to do her love and respect for her family kept her silent and made our life as hell. plz do reply. thanks 

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Answer:

Secret marriage mockery

In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and whoever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We bear witness that there is none worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that Muhammad (saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.

Allah Says in the Holy Quran Chapter 5 Surah Maidah verse 5:

5 …. (Lawful unto you in marriage) are (not only) chaste women who are believers but chaste women among the People of the Book revealed before your time when ye give them their due dowers and desire chastity, not lewdness nor secret intrigues. If anyone rejects faith fruitless is his work and in the Hereafter he will be in the ranks of those who have lost (all spiritual good).

Respected Brother, the guidance of Islam Commands and Demands that the believers marry desiring chastity, not lewdness and secret intrigues! It is only those who are inclined towards the heinous and abomination of the evil of ‘zina’ who develop lewd and secret intrigues; for the sacred institution of marriage in Islam is a public affair whereby one is guided and commanded to openly declare one’s sacred association of marriage to the society one lives in by offering the ‘walima’ or marriage banquet or feast. To marry one secretly without informing one’s loved and dear ones is to make a complete mockery of the sacred institution of marriage!

Sahih Al-Bukhari Hadith 8.395 Narrated by Anas

The Prophet (saws) seeing a yellow mark (of perfume) on the clothes of 'Abdur-Rahman bin 'Auf, said, "What about you?" 'Abdur-Rahman replied, "I have married a woman with a Mahr of gold equal to a date-stone." The Prophet (saws) said, "May Allah bestow His Blessing on you (in your marriage). Give a wedding banquet, (Walima) even with one sheep."

For a ‘marriage’ or ‘nikaah’ to be lawful and acceptable in the Sight of Shariah Law and of Allah Subhanah, the following four absolutely obligatory conditions of an Islamic ‘nikaah’ have to fulfilled:

1. Proposal by one party and acceptance by the other.
2. The determination of ‘mehr’ for the bride.
3. The availability of at least two witnesses to the marriage contract.
4. The consent of the parents/guardians of the bride to the marriage contract.

As much as it would be against piety, righteousness, and behavior becoming of a muslim to marry secretly without informing or the participation of their near and loved ones, if one has fulfilled all the obligatory conditions of an Islamic marriage, their marriage itself will be considered lawful in the Sight of Shariah Law.

If any of the above listed obligatory conditions of the ‘nikaah’ were not honored or violated, the ‘marriage’ will be null and void and have absolutely no legal status in the Sight of Shariah Law.

Q-1: was her nikah with tht man valid??

Q-2: she was pregnant and we didnt knw before giving her divorce abt this, so her nikah was legal with tht man?

Allah Says in the Holy Quran Chapter 2 Surah Baqarah verse 228:

228 Divorced women shall wait concerning themselves for three monthly periods; nor is it lawful for them to hide what Allah hath created in their wombs if they have faith in Allah and the Last Day.

It is absolutely obligatory that a wife upon whom a divorce is pronounced should fulfill her waiting period of ‘idda’ which is three monthly courses if she is not pregnant, and until the delivery of the child if she is pregnant, before she marries another person.

If you had pronounced the divorce upon your wife, and she married another husband without fulfilling her prescribed waiting period of ‘idda’, the marriage with her new husband will be null and void in the Sight of Shariah Law and in the Sight of Allah Subhanah.

Q-3: …she wants to come back to me as she repent the silent she kept of nt revealing our marriage to her family, what can we do now to resolve this issue?

Because the ‘nikaah’ of your wife with her new husband was conducted before she had fulfilled the prescribed period of ‘iddah’, her ‘nikaah’ with that person is absolutely null and void and has no legal basis in Shariah Law.

Allah Says in the Holy Quran Chapter 2 Surah Baqarah verses 229-230:

229 A divorce is only permissible twice: after that the parties should either hold together on equitable terms or separate with kindness. It is not lawful for you (men) to take back any of your gifts (from your wives) except when both parties fear that they would be unable to keep the limits ordained by Allah. If ye (judges) do indeed fear that they would be unable to keep the limits ordained by Allah there is no blame on either of them if she give something for her freedom. These are the limits ordained by Allah; so do not transgress them. If any do transgress the limits ordained by Allah such persons wrong (themselves as well as others).

230 So if a husband divorces his wife (irrevocably) he cannot after that remarry her until after she has married another husband and he has divorced her. In that case there is no blame on either of them if they reunite provided they feel that they can keep the limits ordained by Allah. Such are the limits ordained by Allah which He makes plain to those who understand.

The first two divorce declaration in any one marriage are revocable in Shariah. Thus if the divorce that you pronounced upon your wife was the first, you as the husband are well within your rights to revoke the divorce and take your wife back.

Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me alone. Allah Alone Knows Best and He is the Only Source of Strength.

Your brother and well wisher in Islam,

Burhan