If I agree to marry a man who does not pray, hoping that I can guide him and make him pray, is this marriage valid?

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Question:
May Allah reward you with good. If I agree to marry a man who does not pray, hoping that I can guide him and make him pray, is this marriage valid? And if this marriage is valid, but he does not pray, knowing that I have advised him much, and I married him on the basis that I would reform him, what should I do?

Answer:
The marriage is not valid from the start. If he does not pray at the time of the contract, and the woman being contracted to is praying, then the contract is not valid, because it is a contract from a disbeliever to a Muslim woman. Allah the Exalted says:

And do not marry polytheistic men [to your women] until they believe. And a believing slave is better than a polytheist, even though he might please you.

وَلَا تُنكِحُوا الْمُشْرِكِينَ حَتَّىٰ يُؤْمِنُوا وَلَعَبْدٌ مُّؤْمِنٌ خَيْرٌ مِّن مُّشْرِكٍ وَلَوْ أَعْجَبَكُمْ

[Al-Baqarah 2:221]

, and He said:

then do not return them to the disbelievers; they are not lawful [wives] for them, nor are they lawful

فَلَا تَرْجِعُوهُنَّ إِلَى الْكُفَّارِ لَا هُنَّ حِلٌّ لَّهُمْ وَلَا هُمْ يَحِلُّونَ

[Al-Mumtahanah 60:10]

to them. And the one who deliberately abandons prayer is a disbeliever, with many proofs, among which is the saying of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him):

Between the servant and disbelief and shirk (associating partners with Allah) is abandoning prayer. Narrated by Muslim.

بين العبد وبين الكفر والشرك ترك الصلاة. رواه مسلم

, and his saying:

as saying, “The covenant between us and them is prayer, so if anyone abandons it he has become an infidel.” Ahmad

صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ الْعَهْدُ الَّذِي بَيْنَنَا وَبَيْنَهُمْ الصَّلَاةُ فَمَنْ تَرَكَهَا فَقَدْ كَفَرَ رَوَاهُ

Mishkat al-Masabih 574

, narrated by the authors of the Sunan and others. And Allah (Exalted and Majestic is He) says regarding the people of the Fire:

⁽⁴²⁾ [And asking them], "What put you into Saqar?" ⁽⁴³⁾ They will say, "We were not of those who prayed,

مَا سَلَكَكُمْ فِي سَقَرَ قَالُوا لَمْ نَكُ مِنَ الْمُصَلِّينَ وَلَمْ

[Al-Muddaththir 74:42-44]

. We did not feed the poor, we used to chat with those who chatted, we used to deny the Day of Judgment. So the first answer regarding entering the Fire was abandoning prayer, and He paired it with denying the Day of Judgment. This is disbelief without doubt. So likewise, abandoning prayer is disbelief that takes one out of the religion. So this contract is not valid, if Allah wills. It is not justified by you saying, "I will call him and work to reform him." This is not guaranteed. And the criterion is the state at the time of the contract; the criterion is the state at the time of the contract. So if he prays after that, the contract must be renewed. Yes.

Source قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، إذا وافقت على ارتباطي مع شخص لا يصلي عسى أن أستطيع أن أهديه، وأجعله يصلي، هل هذا الزواج صحيح؟ — youtube.com

The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.

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