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Fatwa CenterA case of a void secret marriage
Question
Dear Sir, A female was in love with a boy. They secretly married on (MORE THAN 3 MONTHS AGO), where their 3 friends were witnesses/nikah khwan and advocate. The boy keeps the nikkah documents and both of them are living with their own parents and both girl's and boy's parents do not know of this nikkah. As the boys parents were not in favor of their marriage and the girls parent do not even know that the girl wanted to marry that boy. The boy and girl have never had any relationship. The boy married another woman after a month of this secret nikkah. The 2nd wife does not know about the first wife. And he does not tell her and wants the 1st girl to keep underground forever. The 1st girl wants him to lkeep him as a normal wife, and she has no issue with 2nd wife (parents choice) but the 2nd wife and boys parents may have issue with the 1st secret wife. When the 1st, secret wifes asks him for rights, he said he will divorce and he wants to divorce him. Questions: 1. is the 1st nikkah valid considering no wali from lady side was there? 2. is the 2nd nikkah valid considering the secret nikkah is not in knowledge of anyone except 3 person who ware boys friends. 3. 1st wife and boy have not performed intercourse or not even have met each other since nikkah (more than 3 months ago) how long will the nikkah stay valid? The 1st lady (secret) does not want to end this marriage but when she asks for rights the boy threats of divorce at which the lady gets scared. Please help
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allaah, the Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His Slave and Messenger.
The first marriage is void because the consent and presence of the Wali (guardian) are among the conditions for the validity of the marriage contract according to the preponderant opinion of the scholars; for more benefit on the conditions of the validity of marriage, please refer to Fatwa 83629.
Since this marriage is void, then that young man is not permitted to have sexual intercourse with that young woman and he is obliged to separate from her. However, the separation in this marriage should be by either the husband issuing divorce or that an Islamic judge invalidates the marriage, as we clarified in Fatwa 92478.
Then if this young man is not willing to renew the contract, this girl should submit her affair to Allaah and ask Him to facilitate for her a better husband. In case he did not consummate the marriage with her, she is not entitled to a dowry.
As regards the second marriage, if it took place while fulfilling those conditions [i.e. the conditions of a valid marriage contract], then it is a valid marriage. The fact that the first marriage was not made public and the like does not have any effect. Islamically, the husband is not obliged to inform his first wife of his second marriage as clarified in Fatwa 85948.
Finally, it should be noted that it is not permissible for a Muslim woman to have an affectionate relationship with a non-Mahram man as this involves much corruption. For more benefit, please refer to Fatwa 81356.
Allaah Knows best.
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