ASAK A woman wants to marry me. She has renounced Christianity and believes in the oneness of God, heaven, hell, angels, life after death, etc, and she told me in her heart she is already a Muslim, as per her faith, though she hasn?t started practicing Islam because of lack of practical support. She wants to marry me because she thinks I can help her follow the right religion and live the rest of her live in the best possible way to please Allah. She is married and has 2 children, but is living separate from her husband and had no physical relations with him for the last more than 12 months. She has now applied for divorce but in her heart she believes to have been divorced long back. I have the following questions: 1) Can I marry her according to Islamic rituals? 2) Can this separation period from her husband be considered as Iddat period or she has to wait for 4 months after divorce. Thanking you very much. JazakAllahKhair
If the woman believes in the Oneness of Allah, the Qur’aan, all its injunctions, all the prophets, she believes in the finality of the prophethood of Muhammad (Sallallaahu Alayhi Wasallam) and his guidance, all the angels, Jannat (paradise) and Jahannum (hell), then she is a Muslim even though she did not start practising on Islam.
Her marriage with her husband terminates after three menstrual cycles of her having the Islamic belief. We advise her former husband be invited to Islam and if he accepts Islam, she should live with him as that is in the interest of their children. Nevertheless, you may marry the woman if she accepts after the abovementioned three menstrual cycles.
and Allah Ta’ala Knows Best
Mufti Ebrahim Desai