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The man whom he authorized to contract his marriage had had a relationship with his wife

Question

ASWK. I got married a year and half back. At the time of Nikah i was aborod, hence my Nikah took place over telephone. in order to get this Nikah being performed i had given a written power of attorney to a man who can represent on mybehalf to complete formal nikah obligations. During this process i did not know this person since he was introduced to me by telephone by my inlaws. Now, after one and half year of my marriage i had found out my wife had involved in physical relationship with this man before my marriage, this man being vakil in my marrige on my behalf. This is really a complecating situation for me. Is my marriage halal? under this circumstances is my marrige is legitimated under islamic law? please advice.

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.

If by your statement that your marriage was conducted over the phone that you appointed that man to act on your behalf in the marriage contract, then this is permissible because it is lawful to authorize a person over the phone to act on one’s behalf. Therefore, if this marriage took place while fulfilling the conditions of a valid marriage contract, among which is the consent (and presence) of the guardian and the presence of two witnesses, then this marriage contract is valid; for more benefit on the conditions of the marriage contract, please refer to Fatwa 83629.

The fact that this woman was having an illicit relationship with that man does not affect the validity of the marriage contract.

Hence, if she repented and became righteous, you should keep her and forget what she had done in the past. We advise you to be kind to her and endeavor to discipline her according to righteousness and ‘Eemaan (faith) and you should be an example for her in this regard. Also, you should oblige her to wear Hijab and prevent her from all means of corruption like mixing with non-Mahram men or being in seclusion with them.

Allaah Knows best.

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