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Fatwa CenterMarriage to Non-Muslim After Having Committed Zina With Her
Question
I committed a major sin (zina) with non-believer and I love this person and she loves me very much. Well, she told me that she is pregnant because she missed her menses for a week and she wants to marry me. She also wants to be a Muslim. Well, I wasn't thinking to make love with her and I refused several times. What should I do and I love her dearly and I want to marry her? I would like to hear from you as soon as possible.
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.
We advise you, dear brother, to make sincere repentance towards Allah and feel sorry for what you had committed. Try your best to convey her the true message of Islam for the sake of Allah.
Marrying this woman is unlawful if she is pregnant as you mentioned unless she gives birth, for the Hadeeth in which the Prophet said about the slave women from Awtaas: “No one should have sexual intercourse with a pregnant woman till she gives birth to the child.” [Abu Daawood and Al-Haakim. The latter said that this Hadeeth is sound]
After she gives birth, marrying her is permissible if she converts to Islam and makes sincere repentance. The child who is from Zina (fornication or adultery) is not considered your son/daughter, so he/she should not be traced back to you. He/she should be traced back to his/her mother. His/her lineage to his/her mother is legal and correct and consequently all the legal rulings of a mother apply on him/her, such as being a Mahram to him (and him to her), inheritance etc.
This is proved from the legal decision of the Prophet concerning the child of adultery or fornication. Abu Dawood narrated: “The Prophet decided regarding one who was treated as a member of a family after the death of his father, to whom he was attributed when the heirs said he was one of them, that if he was the child of a slave-woman whom the father owned when he had intercourse with her, he was included among those who sought his inclusion, but received none of the inheritance which was previously divided; he, however, received his portion of the inheritance which had not already been divided; but if the father to whom he was attributed had disowned him, he was not joined to the heirs. If he was a child of a slave-woman whom the father did not possess or of a free woman with whom he had illicit intercourse, he was not joined to the heirs and did not inherit even if the one to whom he was attributed is the one who claimed paternity, since he was a child of fornication whether his mother was free or a slave.” [Ahmad, Abu Daawood, Ibn Maajah and Ad-Daarimi]
On the other hand, we warn you against aborting the fetus. This is not permissible. The pregnancy due to Zina does not legitimate aborting it regardless of the consequences. It is not permissible even if you marry her. Abortion is an act that leads to destroying progeny and making mischief on earth, Allah does not like mischief. This is also an aggression against a soul, which was already created from Allah.
The child who is going to be born does not bear any sin like his parents; he is born innocent and with good natural predisposition.
Allah knows best.
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