Judge nullified marriage of an apostate wife without questioning husband

31-12-2017 | IslamWeb

Question:

A muslim man got married to a girl who was Hindu by birth but converted to Islam legally by her own free will before the marriage. The marriage was good and legally sound with no problems. After about 1.5 years, the girl's family was informed about said marriage. Since then, for about 4-5 months, the girl was out of contact with the man. Due the influence of the family, the girl converted back to Hinduism with the view to nullify the marriage and stated that she had never practiced Islam. Following this, the man received documents from the girl stating that she has converted back to Hinduism and a certificate from the judge stating that he had verified the girl and that the marriage was fraudulent and is thus null and void. The affidavit declaring the conversion of the girl from Islam back to Hinduism states nothing about any fraud, misinformation, or forcefulness. The man has evidence that proves that the marriage was legally and Islamically sound, that there was no use of force in conversion or marriage, and that the girl practiced Islam. I want to know whether it was right on part of the judge to only verify the girl in the absence of the man, and not verify the events with the man and declare the marriage to be null and void?

Answer:

All perfect praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad  sallallaahu  `alayhi  wa  sallam ( may  Allaah exalt his mention ) is His slave and Messenger.

If that case was raised to a Muslim judge, then he knows better about the means by which he can verify this. Perhaps he only relied on the testimony of witnesses, for example. It is not necessary to ask the husband about the status of this girl. However, if this judgment is from a civil court (run by man-made laws), then its ruling is not taken into consideration in this regard.

If it is true that this girl has apostated from Islam and did not embrace it again, then there is no need for investigating this matter.

It is better for that man to look for a righteous Muslim woman to marry. It should be noted that some girls may love a man and pretend to embrace Islam while in reality the situation is otherwise and they may not adhere to Islamic rituals.

Allah knows best.

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