Q. I am a Filipino Christian and I am now convinced that Islam is God’s true religion. Before I declare myself a Muslim I would like to know the answer to some very important questions. First, must I separate from my Christian husband if he refuses to join me in embracing Islam? What if he raises no objection to my becoming a Muslim, but he does not follow my suit? Second, I am told that I could marry another man, but in my home country, no divorce is allowed. Should I marry, would I be open to a charge of bigamy?
C.S., Hail
A. For many years I have been stating, even in this publication, the view that is practically known to most people, and all scholars that when a woman becomes a Muslim, while her husband remains a non-Muslim, then the marriage is nullified, either instantly or when her waiting period is over.
This view is based on the ruling that no Muslim woman may be married to a non-Muslim. Just like a Muslim cannot enter into a marriage contract with a non-Muslim, she may not remain married to him after she has become a Muslim. But I have always said that I am only a student of Islamic law and jurisprudence. There is certainly much that I do not know.
Very recently I read what Imam Ibn Al-Qayyim has written on this question in his book Ahkam Ahl Al-Thimmah, (or rulings for non-Muslim subjects). He points out that scholars up to his generation differed a great deal on this question, and he enumerates nine different views. He then discusses these views and states the argument of scholars who rule that marriage is nullified once either party has become a Muslim and the other has not.
Ibn Al-Qayyim speaks at length on one of the nine views which is based on a report by Muhammad ibn Sireen on the authority of Abdullah ibn Yazeed Al-Khutami, a companion of the Prophet, stating that "a woman embraced Islam, while her husband was a Christian. Umar ibn Al-Khattab gave her the choice either to separate from him or to stay married to him." Ibn Al-Qayyim explains that this does not mean that she stayed married to him in the full sense of the word. She simply waits for him. When he becomes a Muslim, she is his wife, even if that takes several years. He comments: "This is the most valid view on this question, as evidenced by the Sunnah. It is the view preferred by Ibn Taimiyah." He also explains that the marriage in this case becomes an option, not a binding status. This means that the woman may choose to terminate it, or to keep it, provided that she does not put it into effect until her husband has become a Muslim.
Explaining his and Ibn Taimiyah’s preference, Ibn Al-Qayyim, who was one of the top scholars in our history, takes up the case of Zaynab, the Prophet’s daughter, who became a Muslim in Makkah. Her husband was very late in adopting Islam. She stayed married to him, living with him in Makkah, even after the Prophet had migrated to Madinah. In the Battle of Badr, her husband, Abul-Aas ibn Al-Rabie’, was in the unbelievers’ army and he was taken prisoner by the Muslims. On his release, it appears that the Prophet asked him to send Zaynab to Madinah, which he did. Then six years later, Abul-Aas, still a non-Muslim was in Madinah, granted protection by his wife. She asked the Prophet, her father, whether he could stay in her home. He said: "He is your husband, but he may not have you." A few weeks later, and after he had been to Makkah and back to Madinah, Abul-Aas embraced Islam, and he was reunited with his wife, without a new marriage contract. What the Prophet’s order to his daughter means is that if the wife is a Muslim and her husband is not, they may not have intercourse. That is because the marriage remains in force only as an option. The woman has the other option of separation and marrying a Muslim man. (This is the summary of the view Imam Ibn Al-Qayyim supports).
Imam Ibn Taimiyah says: "To say that once either spouse has become a Muslim while the other has not, separation takes effect, whether the marriage has been consummated or not, is very flimsy. It runs against what is well-known to have been the repeated practice under Islamic law." Ibn Taimiyah records hundreds, if not thousands, of cases of people becoming Muslim before their marriage partners during the lifetime of the Prophet, and the marriage was not nullified in any of their cases.
The sum up of this view is that the woman who becomes a Muslim, while her husband remains a non-Muslim, has a choice either to separate from him, or stay married to him without sexual contact until he becomes a Muslim.
Sheikh Yussuf Al-Qaradawi, a leading contemporary scholar, also discusses this question, and concludes by putting forward two views which may form the basis of rulings on individual cases. The first view is that given by Ali ibn Abu Talib, which allows the marriage to remain valid unless the woman leaves her hometown to live with a Muslim community. The second is that advanced by Az-Zuhri, a famous scholar of the generation that followed the Prophet’s companions. Under this view, the couple remain married unless a court ruling is issued to separate them.
Sheikh Al-Qaradawi also states that in these views we find much scope for women who choose to become Muslim. Many would hesitate to do so for fear of losing their children and families. This view, he says, may be hard to accept by many Muslims, because it is at variance with what they have learned and accepted over a long period of time.
But we all know that Islam has allowed many situations to continue, if they were started before the parties to them became Muslim, while it would not allow them to be initiated by those who are Muslims already.
I have here quoted great scholars who have commanded great respect throughout the Muslim world for many generations, and a contemporary scholar of the highest caliber. Their views must be taken with the seriousness and respect of which they are worthy.
