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Fatwa CenterQuestionable marriage
Question
I got married with an Italian woman 4 months after her divorce. She is Christian and not virgin. A lawyer made our marriage contract with witnesses here in Egypt but without guardian. She was alone in Egypt. We agreed that we continue that marriage in the embassy just paper is finished. So please tell me is that marriage legal?
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. We ask Allaah to exalt his mention as well as that of his family and all his companions.
Getting married to a woman from the People of the Book is allowed. Allaah made it clear in His Qur'aan, Allaah says, (interpretation of meaning): {And [lawful in marriage are] chaste women from among the believers and chaste women from among those who were given the Scripture before you,..}[5:5].
So, if the woman from the People of the Book is chaste, getting married to her is lawful.
All the conditions that are compulsory for the validity of a marriage of a Muslim woman, such as the consent of her guardian and the existence of the witnesses are also stipulated for the validity of the marriage of a Christian or Jewish woman.
Some scholars mentioned explicitly that a Muslim cannot be a guardian of a non-Muslim woman as long as he is not her master (i.e. owner) or a chief ruler.
Therefore, your marriage to this woman without the consent of her guardian from her religion, or a Muslim judge since he acts on behalf of a chief ruler, is not valid, and consequently she is not considered your wife. So, you have to separate immediately from her. If you want to get married to her, you have to do as we mentioned above.
There are some important rules that should be regarded in this concern:
First, if a woman gets divorced after consummating her marriage, no one can marry her unless she observes a waiting period after divorce. The waiting period of a woman who still menstruates is three menstrual periods. If she has not reached the age of pubescence yet, or she reaches the age of menopause then her waiting period is three months. If she is pregnant then her waiting period ends when she gives birth.
Second, if you had sexual intercourse with her then you cannot marry her again unless she completes her waiting period, otherwise if you never had intercourse, then there is no need of waiting.
Though marriage with the women from the People of the Book is lawful it is recommended to avoid it for the many reasons we have mentioned in our previous Fatwa: 88451
Allaah knows best.
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