Home
Discover Islam
Quran Recitations
Lectures
Fatwa
Articles
Fiqh
E-Books
Women
Boys & Girls 
Enter Question
View By Subject
Fatwa Of The Week
Selected Fatwa
Fatwa CenterFake marriage through phone
Question
I have asked this question before, but due to insufficient information, I did not get a fatwa and satisfactory answer. I have elaborated on it here. I request you to provide me with a fatwa to save me from a sin. I forced my cousin to marry me and threatened that if he did not do so, I would commit suicide. He called me and had a person on the call (which he said was a "Molvi"), asked me thrice if I accepted him in marriage, and I said yes three times on the phone. There was no witness at my side. I do not know about the other side of the phone how many people were present, who was the person who asked me about acceptance, and whether the call was on speaker or not at that time. We both knew that it would just be a temporary marriage and that it would not be consummated. He later said that there was no witness at his side and that the person who asked me about acceptance was a common person (his friend); he did this because I forced him. However, since he lies 80% of the time, I cannot trust him. I am still in doubt as to whether this was a real or a fake marriage, because it could be possible that there were two witnesses at his side and that the call was on speaker and that they all heard the proposal and acceptance. I met the guy two or three times alone, but we did not have intercourse. Later on, I asked for a divorce and he said thrice, "I swear by God that there was no marriage, but on your insistence, I divorce you." (This was also on the phone.) I never observed an 'Iddah (waiting period).
1) Was this marriage valid?
2) Can I now remarry someone else without letting any one (my parents and my fiancé) know about this?
3) If this was a defective marriage, then how can I invalidate it given that he has already divorced me?
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 
is His slave and Messenger.
Marriage is one of the rituals that should be respected and honored by a Muslim. Allah says (what means): {And of His signs is that He created for you from yourselves mates that you may find tranquility in them; and He placed between you affection and mercy. Indeed in that are signs for a people who give thought.} [Quran 30:21] Also, Allah called it a solemn covenant; Allah says (what means): {And how could you take it while you have gone in unto each other and they have taken from you a solemn covenant?} [Quran 4:21]
It is for this reason that the Sharia set certain conditions for it, which we have already mentioned in fatwa 83629, so please refer to it.
Therefore, marriage must be conducted with the permission of the guardian and the presence of (two) witnesses, and they must hear the proposal and acceptance from both parties. As for what happened between you, a phone call and presenting the matter of marriage to you and you agreeing to it, then this is not a marriage to start with, let alone it being a valid marriage. Rather, what happened was just a kind of frivolous play.
Therefore, you did not become your cousin's wife by what happened. You may proceed with getting married, and you are not obliged to inform anyone of what had happened, including your parents and your fiancé.
We should also point out that if the marriage is one about which the scholars differed in opinion regarding its invalidity, then some scholars believe that there is no need for annulment or divorce, and some of them are of the view that separation should take place either by annulment or divorce, and that is the view that we adopt here at Islamweb.
Allah knows best.
Search Fatwa
Fatwa Subject
