RE: Marriage to a revert man. We suspect that my sister's convert husband only converted out of love...

 

My sister has recently married to a revert person. He accepted Islam in1998. He was a Christian earlier. We are suspicious rather confident that he has accepted Islam in order to marry my sister. He has reportedly been in love with her. There are two questions in this regard.

1) Is the marriage legitimate?

2) What are our responsibilities in regard to the handling of this matter?

Assalamu alaikum,

Islamically, we take judge things by external appearances.

Imam Shafi`i (Allah be pleased with him) said in his al-Umm that

“Human beings have only been made morally responsible to judge based on outward words and actions. Allah Himself takes care of the reward based on the inward, and not humans.” [Shafi`i, al-Umm, 1.296]

If he says he is Muslim, we judge that he is.

As a result, the marriage would be valid, and you do not have the right to object after the fact.

Rather, the way forward would be to encourage his religious commitment in wise, and effective ways.

Wassalam,
Faraz Rabbani

 

قال الإمام الشافعي في الأُمّ: 1/296

( قَالَ الشَّافِعِيُّ )... وَإِنَّمَا كُلِّفَ الْعِبَادُ الْحُكْمَ عَلَى الظَّاهِرِ مِنْ الْقَوْلِ وَالْفِعْلِ , وَتَوَلَّى اللَّهُ الثَّوَابَ عَلَى السَّرَائِرِ دُونَ خَلْقِهِ , وَقَدْ قَالَ اللَّهُ عَزَّ وَجَلَّ لِنَبِيِّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم { إذَا جَاءَك الْمُنَافِقُونَ قَالُوا نَشْهَدُ إنَّك لَرَسُولُ اللَّهِ وَاَللَّهُ يَعْلَمُ إنَّكَ لَرَسُولُهُ وَاَللَّهُ يَشْهَدُ إنَّ الْمُنَافِقِينَ لَكَاذِبُونَ اتَّخَذُوا أَيْمَانَهُمْ جُنَّةً فَصَدُّوا عَنْ سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ } إلَى قَوْلِهِ { فَطُبِعَ عَلَى قُلُوبِهِمْ }