A man who was in a group of takfir (declaring someone a disbeliever) and married a woman without a guardian because he believed he was a disbeliever, then repented; what should he do now?

The Shaykh : Yes, do you have something?

The questioner : There are some young men who belonged to one of the groups called takfir (declaring someone a disbeliever), and he married a girl, of course, without a guardian.

The Shaykh : Strange.

The questioner : And now he has repented from what he was doing; he asks what is the ruling on the marital life now? Does repentance cancel what came before, or...

The Shaykh : Why did he marry her without a guardian? Because he believed her guardian was a disbeliever?

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh: Allah is the Greatest!
Laughter.The Shaykh : And some studentsThe Shaykh .

The questioner : And he has children.

The Shaykh : There is no difference whether he has children or not; either this marriage is permissible or it is not permissible; there is no god but Allah; Allah knows best, the answer would be as follows: if the man is considered like the man who was in the pre-Islamic age of ignorance and married a woman under a pre-Islamic contract; so when the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) had those disbelievers accept Islam, he did not order them to renew the contracts; so this is like those people; please.

The questioner : I mean, it seems or appears that the situation is different, meaning that this Shari'ah (Islamic sacred law) has become established, and the texts have become established that there is no marriage except with a guardian, for example, and the people of the pre-Islamic age of ignorance have an excuse that no Shari'ah came to them regarding that, like the wealth they sent from riba (usury or interest); the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said to them, leave it; it appears that this matter is different, so if, for example, it was said he was interpreting (ta'wil) and this does not fall under the category of interpretation, he was interpreting and made a mistake or something like that.

The Shaykh : This, this has a point, and without a doubt, the difference you have mentioned is clear and obvious; but we must take into account the ijtihad (independent legal reasoning) of the mistaken mujtahids (a scholar qualified to derive rulings); because for example, today there is a known school of jurisprudence that permits a woman or a girl who has reached the age of maturity to marry herself.
Al-Huwayni: Is this according to the Hanafi school?

The Shaykh : We do not want to expose the schools of jurisprudence now, Professor, let it remain covered.
The students andThe Shaykh : They are laughing.

The Shaykh : Let us assume a person lived in this school of jurisprudence, did not live, and married a woman based on this school of jurisprudence, and had offspring or did not have offspring, it is not important; then it became clear to him the error of this school of jurisprudence by the evidence of the text you pointed to, what does he do? As it was reported from 'Umar ibn al-Khattab that he was asked once about an inheritance case, so he issued a ruling with his opinion, it was said to him: "You previously, since so long, issued a ruling contrary to this; he said: This is according to what we issue rulings on now, and that was according to what we issued rulings on," because ijtihad (independent legal reasoning) changes; so this leeway is necessary; yes, I notice that there is a difference between the ijtihad (independent legal reasoning) of an imam from the imams of the Muslims who says that it is permissible for a mature girl to marry herself without her father's permission, that this contract is valid, and a young man arrogant with his knowledge who does not have the culture of the Book and the Sunnah as it should be, and he raised in himself the takfir (declaring someone a disbeliever) of the majority of Muslims and that he should derive from that rulings for which Allah has not sent any authority; yes, this is a mistake and a very serious mistake; but we cannot do anything but say that as long as he was not intentionally opposing the Shari'ah text, we find an excuse for him; and this excuse does not mean anything but that we treat him as we said, the treatment of Islam when it first came to the polytheists who made non-Shari'ah contracts, so we let it be as it is; and this person repents between him and Allah the Exalted and remains as he is, and Allah knows best.

The questioner : He renews the contract...

The Shaykh : If the previous answer is valid, there is no need for the contract; because when the Companions accepted Islam, they did not renew the contracts...