If the husband and wife were not praying at the time of the marriage contract, and then they repented to Allah, what is the ruling on the contract? And if it is invalid, what is the solution that should be implemented?
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The questioner : The second question is roughly on this topic. It says: I contracted my marriage to my wife at a time when neither of us was praying; in fact, each of us was abandoning this obligatory duty. The marriage took place in this state. Then Allah guided us, and to Him belong all praise and favor, to perform this obligatory duty. I heard through your program that one who abandons prayer is a disbeliever according to the most correct opinion of the scholars. In truth, all the hadiths I have looked into rule that one who abandons prayer is declared a disbeliever. So my question is: what is the ruling on this contract? And if the contract is invalid, what is the solution that should be implemented?
The Shaykh : The solution that should be implemented is simply to renew this contract. If you renew this contract, the matter remains as it is. The children who came from this contract, and you at the time of the contract believed it to be valid and not invalid due to your ignorance of the ruling that one who abandons prayer is a disbeliever, these children are legitimate children who are attributed to their father. This is because whenever a contract is not valid and a person believes it to be valid, the intercourse within it is intercourse of doubt, and children are attributed from such intercourse. The parallel to this, or the parallel of one who marries with a contract he believes to be valid while it is actually not valid, is a person who marries a woman and then it becomes clear afterwards that she is his sister through breastfeeding, and he has had children from her. Then his children are legitimate children who are attributed to him by law, because they were from intercourse in which the person believed it to be lawful. Yes.
The questioner : Yes, may Allah bless you.
O my dear brothers, in today’s episode, His Eminence Shaykh Muhammad ibn Salih al-Uthaymeen, a professor at the College of Sharia at Imam Muhammad ibn Saud Islamic University in Qassim, and the imam and khatib of the Grand Mosque in Unaizah, answered questions from my brother Hamad ibn Sa'ib al-Shamri from the Eastern Region, Al-Khafji; my brother Hajj Ibrahim Jasim from Iraq; and my brother Ibn Mas'ud from the Arab Republic of Egypt, the city of As-Salul.
We thank His Eminence for his answer, and we thank you as well for your good follow-up. May we meet you in a future episode, if Allah wills. And may peace be upon you, and the mercy of Allah and His blessings.
The Shaykh : The solution that should be implemented is simply to renew this contract. If you renew this contract, the matter remains as it is. The children who came from this contract, and you at the time of the contract believed it to be valid and not invalid due to your ignorance of the ruling that one who abandons prayer is a disbeliever, these children are legitimate children who are attributed to their father. This is because whenever a contract is not valid and a person believes it to be valid, the intercourse within it is intercourse of doubt, and children are attributed from such intercourse. The parallel to this, or the parallel of one who marries with a contract he believes to be valid while it is actually not valid, is a person who marries a woman and then it becomes clear afterwards that she is his sister through breastfeeding, and he has had children from her. Then his children are legitimate children who are attributed to him by law, because they were from intercourse in which the person believed it to be lawful. Yes.
The questioner : Yes, may Allah bless you.
O my dear brothers, in today’s episode, His Eminence Shaykh Muhammad ibn Salih al-Uthaymeen, a professor at the College of Sharia at Imam Muhammad ibn Saud Islamic University in Qassim, and the imam and khatib of the Grand Mosque in Unaizah, answered questions from my brother Hamad ibn Sa'ib al-Shamri from the Eastern Region, Al-Khafji; my brother Hajj Ibrahim Jasim from Iraq; and my brother Ibn Mas'ud from the Arab Republic of Egypt, the city of As-Salul.
We thank His Eminence for his answer, and we thank you as well for your good follow-up. May we meet you in a future episode, if Allah wills. And may peace be upon you, and the mercy of Allah and His blessings.