Q: Apostacy of Husband
I am a Muslim woman and my husband used to be Muslim, yet, has became convinced of strange beliefs and started to propagate them.
He says it is not mandatory for any one to subscribe to the religion of Islam, that the five daily prayers are not mandatory, and that a Muslim may instead say “Allah” inside his heart. He, also, claims to be an assistant of “al-Mahdi”, as well as other false beliefs. I, as well as other Muslims from the community, have tirelessly advised him and invited him to repent. He insists to follow his new ways. And it has been years now. At present, he is on a business trip overseas, and is expected to be back here to live with me in the home we share.
Is it permissible for me to maintain this marriage, and to live with him like a wife? Please give me a fatwa.
All Praise be to Allah, and peace and blessings be on His messenger. To proceed: We ask Allah for this sister to be rewarded greatly in goodness and keep her firm in Islam and make her up for her loss .We, also, say to this sister that her husband, according to his new beliefs, has became an apostate, particularly that he has been advised by the sister and others, yet insists to follow his new path.
A Muslim woman may not stay married to an apostate husband, and she may not let him touch her, by the consensus of the scholars for Allah said:
(يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِذَا جَاءَكُمُ الْمُؤْمِنَاتُ مُهَاجِرَاتٍ فَامْتَحِنُوهُنَّ اللَّهُ أَعْلَمُ بِإِيمَانِهِنَّ فَإِنْ عَلِمْتُمُوهُنَّ مُؤْمِنَاتٍ فَلا تَرْجِعُوهُنَّ إِلَى الْكُفَّارِ لا هُنَّ حِلٌّ لَهُمْ وَلا هُمْ يَحِلُّونَ لَهُنَّ ) (الممتحنة: 10)
"O ye who believe! When there come to you believing women refugees, examine (and test) them: Allah knows best as to their Faith: if ye ascertain that they are Believers, then send them not back to the Unbelievers. They are not lawful (wives) for the Unbelievers, nor are the (Unbelievers) lawful (husbands) for them."
(Quran 60-10)
Imam al-Shafe’ey said in his book “al-Umm”: “if the married couple were in any land, that of Islam, or that of war, and one of them apostatized, then our decree here is similar to the case in which a married couple who are pagans in case one of them becomes Muslim, the marriage is annulled & the rest of the secondary rulings all apply……and I found in the decree of Allah Blessed & most high the prohibition of giving in marriage Muslim women to polytheists & the prohibition of Muslim men marrying pagan women …and I found that when one of the married couple apostatizes, martial relations become forbidden, so a disbeliever may not have sex with a believing woman …and if the man apostatized after having sex with his wife then he should be prevented from approaching her again ,and when her waiting period expires before he returns to Islam, the marriage would be considered annulled:”
Based on the above statement, this sister must do the following:
(1). Treat her husband like a foreign man, and not let him touch her or be alone with her.
(2). Start counting her waiting period (which is three menstrual periods for those who menstruate); and she should begin from the day she receives this fatwa or any similar fatwa from an Islamic center…etc.
(3). If her husband returned to Islam, she may go back to him as a wife based on their previous contract, and they don’t have to re-marry so long as he does that before her waiting period ends.
(4). If her waiting period ends and he has not returned to Islam she would be entitled, Islamically, to marry another Muslim. She also has the right to wait for her previous husband in hopes that Allah may guide him one day and she may return to him. In the case that this happens, it would be better to initiate a new marriage contract, although some scholars maintain that their original contract suffices, yet as long as she is waiting for him, she should continue to treat him like a foreign man and not let him touch her.
(5). We recommend to the sister to continue her supplication for her husband that Allah may guide him, and to continue to invite him to Islam (without being alone with him),this may be done by writing, or over the phone, or giving him books and tapes, or arranging for meetings between him and scholars of Islam to advise him.
All of this given that she has enough faith and knowledge to protect herself from his suspicions, yet if she fears for herself that he may sway her away from her religion and make her doubt her beliefs , and she can’t rebuttal him, then we recommend to her to completely abandon him.
We, also, recommend to the sister in case she was interested in marrying someone else after her period ends that she go through the appropriate legal actions to terminate the first marriage before getting married again.
Finally, we recommend to the sister: patience and sincerity; and we ask Allah Most High to deliver you out of your hardship, and make all of your affairs easy.
And All Praise Be To Allah
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