Answered by: Shaykh Ahmed bin Mohamed Umarji
Question:
What is nikah halala (halala marriage) in Islam?
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
Answer:
Halala is when a divorced woman marries another man and consummates the marriage with him, and then he either dies or divorces her for some reason. She now becomes free to marry her first husband after her Iddah (waiting period) is completed. This arrangement has been considered accursed in the Hadith, even though it will free the woman to marry her first husband again.
The Prophet (ﷺ) said: Curse be upon the one who marries a divorced woman with the intention of making her lawful for her former husband and upon the one for whom she is made lawful.1
If a person marries without placing a verbal condition but had an intention in his heart to divorce her after consummating the marriage so that she can become lawful for the first husband, this marriage will be considered permissible.2
Only Allah knows best
Written by Shaykh Ahmed bin Mohamed Umarji
Checked and approved by Mufti Mohammed Tosir Miah
Darul Ifta Birmingham
1 Sunan Abi Dawud 2076
2 Dars Tirmizi, Page 359, Volume 3, Maktabah Darul Uloom Karachi