She got pregnant from him after the traditional ceremony and before the official ceremony

 

 

She got pregnant from him after the traditional ceremony and before the official ceremony

ar - en

The imam of a mosque proposed marriage to a woman, on the basis that they would be engaged for five years, and he did the marriage contract with her before a number of people, but before he announced his marriage to her and before the marriage was officially registered, he had intercourse with her without her family’s knowledge, and when he decided to announce the marriage with the daff (i.e., hold a wedding party) and register the marriage officially, she was pregnant and there were only three months left until the birth. 


My questions are: 


1- What is the ruling on his marriage and what is the ruling on the child who is born as a result?


2- Is the husband regarded as having done something haraam by doing this, or not?


3- What is the ruling on praying behind this imam?.

 

Praise be to Allaah.

Firstly: 

If the
marriage contract to which you refer met the conditions of proposal and
acceptance, and the presence of the woman’s wali (guardian) and two
witnesses, and was done with the woman’s consent, then this is a valid
marriage contract with all that that entails. The woman became his wife
thereby and it is permissible for her husband to be intimate with her,
including intercourse. But if he refrained from intercourse that would have
been better, in accordance with custom and so as to avoid the negative
consequences that result from that, such as suspicion and so on, especially
since the marriage was not registered officially. 

The child
who results from this marriage is legitimate and is to be named after his
father, because it is a valid marriage. See also question no.
75026. 

But if the
marriage did not fulfil the conditions, such as if there was no wali, then
it is an invalid marriage according to the majority of fuqaha’, but the
child should still be attributed to his father. 

The one who
did this marriage contract although he knew that it was haraam, and had
intercourse after that, is a zaani (fornicator, adulterer) and is judged to
be a faasiq (rebellious evildoer) unless he repents and become righteous.  

Shaykh
al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah said in al-Fataawa al-Kubra (3/326): Whoever
has intercourse with a woman in an invalid marriage believing that she is
his wife, his child from her is to be attributed to him, according to the
consensus of the Muslims. End quote. 

Secondly: 

With regard
to praying behind him, such prayers are valid, and what has happened does
not undermine his religious commitment and he is not judged to be a faasiq
(rebellious evildoer) because of it, because if the first marriage contract
was valid, there is no problem and that does not undermine his religious
commitment. But if it was invalid – such as if it was done without a wali –
and it seems that he did that believing it to be permissible, then he is not
sinning and he is not judged to be a faasiq because of that.  

But this
imam made a mistake by hastening to consummate the marriage before
announcing the marriage and registering it officially, because that opens
the door to gossip about him and his wife, and exposes him to talk. The one
who is in a position where he is an example for people –such as an imam,
teacher, mufti, qaadi and so on – should keep away from everything that may
impugn their dignity and open the door to doubt and suspicion about them. 

May Allaah
help us all to do that which He loves and which pleases Him. 

And Allaah
knows best.