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Fatwa CenterA non-Islamic court granted her a divorce from her first husband
Question
My husband filled dissolution of marriage in US court n did not serve me summons, latter on i fined out n our divorce was granted on 30th june 2009. After few months he is telling me i didn't divorce you religiously I just wanted to withdraw my case so you won't get ur green card through me because i was mad at you. Now he is saying we are still married and that he already asked 2 Imam's of masjid and according to them non muslim judge cannot terminate our marriage. My question is if we don't have islamic court here then all the muslims who live here and got there divorces here are not valid. And am i still his wife? Thanks for your help.
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 your husband uttered divorce or wrote it while intending divorce, then his divorce takes place. The fact that this happened at a non-Islamic court does not prevent divorce from taking place, because, in this case, divorce did not take place by the court’s ruling, but because your husband had initiated it. For more benefit, please refer to Fatwa 90056.
On the other hand, if your husband did not utter divorce or that he wrote it without having the intention of initiating divorce, then his divorce does not take place. In this case, the ruling of this non-Islamic court that you are divorced from him is of no effect. This is what is meant by that divorce issued by those non-Islamic courts does not take place, and this differs from the first case when the husband initiated divorce in front of it (the court).
Thus, the ruling on whether or not your marriage is still valid is based on the aforementioned details. Hence, if we presume that divorce took place, then if this is the first or second divorce, and your waiting period has expired, then your husband is permitted to take you back but with a new marriage contract; for more benefit, please refer to Fatwa 82541.
It should be noted that it is not permissible for a Muslim to resort to non-Islamic courts without a necessity and the rulings that they issue are not religiously taken into account.
Finally, the Muslims in non-Muslim countries should set up some committees or legal bodies that should be specialized in dealing with personal matters of Muslims.
Allaah Knows best.
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