Resolutions of Iftaa' Board



Resolutions of Iftaa' Board

Resolution No.(96): "Dissolution of a Christian Woman`s Marriage Contract with Christian Husband upon her Conversion to Islam"

Date Added : 08-02-2018

Resolution No.(96) by the Board of Iftaa`, Research and Islamic Studies: "Dissolution of a Christian Woman`s Marriage Contract with Christian Husband upon her Conversion to Islam"

Date: 18/12/1426 AH, corresponding to 18/1/2006 AD.

 

 

 

All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of The Worlds, and may His peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Mohammad and upon all his family and companions.

The Board reviewed the letter sent from the Chief Justice to His Eminence the Grand Mufti (17/8/2006) with which was enclosed the letter of the General Manager of Civil Status & Passports Department along with other documents originally addressed to the Chief Justice. The letter read as follows:

Mr. (S), a Moroccan man married to Mrs. (O) according to a Certificate of Sharia Court Marriage (8/8/2005) issued by the Sharia Court of Salt City, submitted a request to obtain a civil record and a family register, enclosing a parentage confirmation certificate (11/8/2005) for his children (Rami, Ramzi, Mohammad and Randa). It is worth pointing out that Rami was born on February the 2nd, 1988. It was made clear to the Board, based on records, that the wife (O), formerly Christian and  registered included in the civil record of her first husband, holds an Ecclesiastical Marriage Dissolution Certificate (10/12/1988).

Based on the above facts, it was made clear that the parentage confirmation certificate contradicts with the provisions of article (22) of the Civil Status Law (9/2001). This article states: "To the exclusion of articles (19), (20), and (21), the clerk is banned from mentioning the name of the father or mother or both, even if he was asked to do so in any of the following two situations:

One: They are within the prohibited degree of marriage

Two: The mother is married to another man for Rami was born during her being married to another man.

Answer:

It was made clear to the Board, based on Mrs. (O) certificate of conversion to Islam issued from the Sharia Court of Salt City (No. 53/93/7, 8/8/2005) in which she confirmed having embraced Islam for over twenty years, and since the majority of the Muslim scholars have agreed that separation is expedited between the non-Muslim spouses once the wife embraces Islam and the husband maintains his faith without the latter`s refusal to convert to Islam contrary to the Hanafie school of thought (Madhab). Accordingly, and opting for the view of the majority of the Muslim scholars, the marriage contract of Mrs. (O) with her former Christian husband (R) is considered dissolved upon her conversion to Islam twenty years ago. Since she visited the Iftaa` Dept. on November 16th, 2005 and submitted a petition in which she clarified that she had observed Iddah (Waiting period after death of husband or getting divorced) of her already dissolved marriage contract and wasn`t pregnant and her Iddah had ended before her second marriage to a Muslim husband and since both (S & O)mutually confirmed that their marriage contract was concluded on October 13th, 2005 with their mutual consent based on a Certificate of Sharia Court Marriage issued by the Sharia Court of Salt City (No. 67/8/65, 8/8/2005), the dissolution of her first marriage contract with her Christian husband on basis of the Ecclesiastical Marriage Dissolution Document issued by the Greek Orthodox First Instance Court (Amman, 10/12/1988) is pointless because that contract has already been dissolved. On this basis, Rami, born 21/2/1988, was the fruit of a valid marriage contract between Mrs. (O) and Mr. (S), and his father is Mr. (S) as confirmed by the Parentage confirmation certificate issued by the Sharia court of Salt city (No.144, 11/8/2005). And Allah Knows Best.

 

 

 

Iftaa` Board

Chairman of the Iftaa` Board, Chief Justice, Izzaldeen Al-Tamimi

Dr. AbdulMajeed Al-Salaheen

Dr. Abdulsalam Al-Abbadi

Dr. Ahmad Hilayel

Dr. Yousef Ghyzaan

Dr. Wasif Al-Bakhri

Dr. Abdukareem Al-Khasawneh

Sheikh Sae`id Hijjawi

Sheikh Nae`im Mujahid

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Summarized Fatawaa

1- A young man whose father and grandfather are dead. Unfortuntly, he passedaway leaving a mother, two sisters and a brother. Do his paternal uncles inherit him? 2- A man died leaving daughters, a wife, brothers, a mother or no mother. It is well known that the daughters inherit two thirds and the wife one eighth. To whom does the rest of the estate go and what is the evidence on that from the texts of Sharia?

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, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.
1- The full brother or the paternal half-sibling disinherits the paternal uncles. The paternal half-sibling takes one sixth and because they are from the Asabah (Male relatives on the father`s side) of the deceased they take the rest of the estate. The proof of this is that Ibn ‘Abbas (May Allah Be Pleased with them) reported God’s Messenger (PBUH) as saying: "Give the shares to those who are entitled to them, and what remains over goes to the nearest male heir." [Agreed upon]. In this case, nothing is left to them.
2- The brothers take the rest of the deceased`s estate and the full brother disinherits the paternal half-sibling, and the proof of this is the aforementioned narration. And Allah The Almighty Knows Best.

A man cursed Allah, is he allowed to perform prayer without making Ghusl?

All perfect praise be to Allah the Lord of the Worlds. May Allah`s peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Mohammad and upon all his family and companions.
 
Cursing Allah is an act of apostasy and one who commits it must utter the testimonies of faith, make repentance, take back wife; however, it isn`t conditioned that he makes Ghusl (Full body ritual purification) to pray. And Allah The Almighty Knows Best.

I have a question regarding the deferred portion of the dowry (Mahr)*. Is the wife entitled to it only upon divorce or she can claim it even if divorce hasn`t taken place? Moreover, does she have the right to claim this portion after death of husband, even if he didn`t divorce her before that?

All perfect praise be to Allah the Lord of The Worlds. May His blessings and peace be upon our Prophet Mohammad and upon all his family and companions.
In the marriage contract, it is recorded that the deferred portion of the dowry is due upon divorce or death, whatever comes first. If divorce took place first then the woman is entitled to it and if the husband died this amount must be paid from his estate. On the other hand, if the woman died then the husband becomes liable for this portion and it becomes part of the woman`s estate. We advise every husband to give this portion to his wife while alive because it is a right of hers. And Allah The Almighty Knows Best.
* In Islam, a Mahr is the obligation, in the form of money or possessions paid by the groom, to the bride at the time of Islamic marriage (payment also has circumstances on when and how to pay). While the mahr is often money, it can also be anything agreed upon by the bride such as jewelry, home goods, furniture, a dwelling or some land. Mahr is typically specified in the marriage contract signed upon marriage.

Is it permissible to offer mandatory prayer while sitting?

All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of The Worlds, and may His Peace and Blessings be upon our Prophet Muhammad and upon all of his family and companions.                                                                                                                                                                                                                            Standing up is a pillar in the mandatory prayer and the prayer is not valid without it unless one cannot do it. As for Nafila (supererogatory prayer), one can perform it in the state of sitting even if he/she can stand, but his/her reward is half the reward of the person who prays while standing if he/sh has no legal excuse for such an act. And Allah Knows Best.