Marriage without a Wali must be ended by divorce or annulment

10-3-2015 | IslamWeb

Question:

Salaam I was engaged secrectly for 4 years then my fiance left uk to see his mother in pakistan ,he insisted forus to do a Nikah my parents and family was against it at the time so he arranged some of his friends in the uk to act as his walo and my wali and the witness ,we had the nikah with his wali present he did not pay me meher once nikah done we talked on phone skype Nd so on i insisted to go and see him but he kept on saying when the time is right after 5 meri bthis of nikah we lost contact he changed all his numbers and blocked me in some ,now it has been one year no aswel letter email nothing from him I found out he lied to me about his address back in pakistan and all contacts ,i have no contact with him because we did not meet we had no relationship before or after marriage ,question is one the nikah valid and two what should I do sit and wait for how long he never paid me any expenses what so ever not even the haq meher Plz advise me thanks

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 ( may  Allaah exalt his mention ) is His Slave and Messenger. 

There are certain conditions for the validity of a marriage contract. Among the most important of these conditions are the (consent of the bride's) Wali (legal guardian) and witnesses. Please refer to Fatwa 83629 about the conditions for the validity of a marriage contract.

If this marriage was conducted without the consent of your Wali, then it is considered invalid. The scholars held different opinions regarding whether such a marriage is to be declared Faasid (defective). The jurists maintained that a marriage annulment or divorce is necessary in such a case. Ibn Qudaamah  may  Allaah  have  mercy  upon  him said: "In case of a Faasid (defective) marriage, it is impermissible for the woman to marry another man unless he (the man who defectively married her) divorces her or the marriage contract is annulled. If the husband refuses to divorce her, the authority has the right to issue a marriage annulment as stated by Imaam Ahmad." [Al-Mughni]

Some scholars, on the other hand, held that there is no need for a marriage annulment or divorce; however, the first opinion is stronger. You are advised to refer the case to the parties concerned with the settlement of Muslims' affairs, such as Islamic Centers. Please refer to Fataawa 125598and 143529.

Finally, we would like to highlight two important points:

First, stating a fixed amount of Mahr (bridal gift) is not among the conditions for the validity of the marriage contract. Please, refer to Fatwa 85388.

Second, maintenance dues become obligatory when the wife hands herself over to her husband, physically or effectively, by the woman being there for her husband when he wants to sleep with her. At that point, it is incumbent on him to provide her maintenance needs.

Allaah Knows best

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