He married to get a green card
Fatwa No: 107253

Question

assalamou alykom wa rahmatou allahi wabarakatohou....im muslam man living in north america married to a chirstian wife for more then 5 years...honestly our marriage was for the purpose of getting the greencard (from my side only) i wasnt providing for her since she has a good job and she can afford everything that she needs or in another work we were charing the expenses of the house....she is not willing to convert to islam and i've never was happy by being with her....two months ago she told me she's pregnant and that's upsaid me a lot and i decided to leave the house and the country cause i know that she wont let me teach my child islam and she rather that i stay away and just provide the child support.And that's exactly what she told me....our situation is so complecated and i dont know what to do .....note that i dont have my green card yet and in the mean time i want to go back to my country but worry about the future of my child....can u please tell me what's the right thing to do ? if i stay here i will loose my life and if i go back i will loose my child....wassalamou alaykom warahmatoullah

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.

 

First of all, you should know that if you had married this woman a correct marriage contract fulfilling the conditions of a correct marriage contact, the most important of which is the consent of the guardian and the presence of two witnesses, then this woman became your wife. The fact that you married her for the purpose of getting a green card does not affect the validity of the marriage. However, if this marriage took place without the consent of her guardian or without witnesses, then it is a void marriage and it must be invalidated, but the child will be traced back to you.

In any case, if residing there is dangerous for you, then in our view, you should divorce this woman and migrate to your country even if you leave this child with her. The companions migrated to Al-Madeenah and left their wives and children in Makkah in order to rescue themselves and save their religion.

What happened to you confirms the warning of the scholars against residing in non-Muslim countries and marrying women from the people of the Book, especially in our present time.

For more benefit, please refer to Fataawa 84159 and 86405

Allaah Knows best.

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