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Fatwa CenterHis wife apostatized after 17 years of embracing Islam
Question
assalamulikum. i marry to swedish women. she accept islam 17 years. now she became murtad. we have 4 kids. she has lot of respect for me and my religion. she practice islam 17 years. she accept i tich my kids islam. she do not make any problem my religion matter. but she can not belive any religion. she do not drink alcohol. she do not eat pig meat. she is very decent and kind person. she has lot of knowledge about islam. but she can not belive in the herat. at the moment what i should do? if i give divorce kids will grow as a kafir. my question can i stay with her? is it jinah? is our marriage valid? we marry islamic way. is it sin to stay with her? what i should do? pl give me advice. my wife swedish. we live in sweden. if i give her divorce i will not have r8 to bring my kids to my home country bangladesh. pl help me. thanks. bye
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 
is His slave and Messenger.
If the current situation of that woman is that she does not believe in any religion, then she has indeed apostatized from Islam and her marriage is nullified. No consideration is given to what you mentioned of her having a lot of knowledge about Islam, or that she agrees to give your children an Islamic education and so forth. Hence, you must separate from her and it is not permissible for you to have sexual intercourse with her; if you do, you would be considered committing adultery. For more benefit, please refer to Fataawa 5985 and 134052.
On the other hand, it is obligatory to call her to repent and return to Islam, and to explain to her the danger of apostasy from Islam. You could perhaps seek assistance in this regard from some people of knowledge. If she does return to Islam while she is still in her ‘Iddah (waiting period), she would return to you with no need for a new marriage contract. But if her ‘Iddah has finished, she cannot return to you except with a new contract.
Anyway, if she insists on remaining an apostate, you must separate from her and there is no need for divorce, since the marriage was nullified by her apostasy. The fact that the marriage was initiated in a legitimate way does not mean it remains such after apostasy.
Kindly see Fataawa 55132 and 87672 about how to call an apostate back to the true religion.
Finally, the disbelieving woman has no right to custody of the children, so try your best to attain custody. If you are able to take them, even without her knowledge, and travel to reside with them in a Muslim country, then do so. This will help you in raising them upon the creed and morals of Islam.
Allaah Knows best.
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