I married a Muslim woman who fasted but had not learned how to pray. After the marriage, I taught her the ablution and the prayer, and she began to pray. This was after 23 years of marriage.

The questioner : I married a Muslim woman who fasted but had not learned how to pray. After the marriage, I taught her the ablution and the prayer, and she began to pray. It has been twenty-three years since the marriage. Does her not praying before the marriage harm the marital relationship and the marriage contract? Please advise us, may Allah reward you.

The Shaykh : Her not praying appears to me, from the question, to have been due to ignorance, not due to negligence or laziness. Such a person is not ruled to be a disbeliever, so the marriage contract is valid with no doubt in it. The fact that the woman did not leave off the prayer out of laziness or negligence is indicated by the fact that when her husband taught her, she began to pray in the manner her husband taught her. Therefore, your marriage is valid with no doubt in it, and your marital relationship with her is a valid relationship. Yes.

The questioner : The listener Abdullah, O Shaykh Muhammad, says.