What is the ruling on a marriage contract concluded by one who does not pray?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : The questioner says: I married a woman of religion, and her father concluded the contract for me. After the contract was completed, it became clear to me that her father abandons the prayer, but he prays when there is a guest he is shy of, or if he is in the company of someone he wants to show off to. I advised him many times, and he does not object, and he shows his agreement, but he does not pray. All his adult sons, and likewise his words.
The Shaykh : Present.
The questioner : And those who are waiting for them to take on the guardianship of marriage are of the same nature, and no one in the house prays except the women, especially her mother, who is the most steadfast in the pillars of Islam. Naturally, I am from a country outside the Kingdom where its courts are not governed by the law of Allah, but by man-made laws. So what is the ruling on this contract? If it is invalid or defective, can it be corrected or repeated, and who takes charge of that? Is it the woman herself or her guardians? And what must be done regarding her other sisters who are residing and not married?
The Shaykh : If the father, I mean the father of these girls, if he prays sometimes and leaves it sometimes, then he does not become a disbeliever, but he is among the open sinners. Because the texts regarding declaring the one who abandons prayer a disbeliever indicate that he does not become a disbeliever except if he abandons it absolutely. As for the one who abandons a prayer and then prays another time, the apparent meaning of the texts is that he does not become a disbeliever, even though some of the Salaf said he becomes a disbeliever. So the father’s case is looked into: if he does not pray at all, then his marriage contract for his daughters is not valid, because a disbeliever has no guardianship over a Muslim. It is obligatory that the contract be repeated under Muslim guardians. If none are found, then the Sultan, meaning the ruler of the country, takes charge of the contract.
The Shaykh : Present.
The questioner : And those who are waiting for them to take on the guardianship of marriage are of the same nature, and no one in the house prays except the women, especially her mother, who is the most steadfast in the pillars of Islam. Naturally, I am from a country outside the Kingdom where its courts are not governed by the law of Allah, but by man-made laws. So what is the ruling on this contract? If it is invalid or defective, can it be corrected or repeated, and who takes charge of that? Is it the woman herself or her guardians? And what must be done regarding her other sisters who are residing and not married?
The Shaykh : If the father, I mean the father of these girls, if he prays sometimes and leaves it sometimes, then he does not become a disbeliever, but he is among the open sinners. Because the texts regarding declaring the one who abandons prayer a disbeliever indicate that he does not become a disbeliever except if he abandons it absolutely. As for the one who abandons a prayer and then prays another time, the apparent meaning of the texts is that he does not become a disbeliever, even though some of the Salaf said he becomes a disbeliever. So the father’s case is looked into: if he does not pray at all, then his marriage contract for his daughters is not valid, because a disbeliever has no guardianship over a Muslim. It is obligatory that the contract be repeated under Muslim guardians. If none are found, then the Sultan, meaning the ruler of the country, takes charge of the contract.
Source
قناة «فضيلة الشيخ محمد بن صالح العثيمين»، لقاء[15 من 30] ما حكم تولي عقد الزوجية من لا يصلي؟!! الشيخ ابن عثيمين - مشروع كبار العلماء — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.