Fatwa ID:04850 

Answered by: Mufti Mohammed Tosir Miah

Question

If a couple is married, and the guy finds out that the girl committed Zina with some other guy she used to go out with before marriage but she didn’t tell her husband because she said “she has repented” but the husband was in tears and couldn’t accept the fact that she had done that, and he doesn’t think he will be able to live with the fact that someone else has touched his wife before and he sometimes sees that person and he gets angry. So if he was to get a divorce because he doesn’t think he can live with the truth and he thinks it will affect him in the future, will his divorce be a bad thing? Will he be sinful for it? What are the possible solutions and the best way forward?

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

Answer

There are two ways to look at your question. If the wife has said that she has repented from her previous actions then the husband should try and forget what happened before and continue with the marriage.

The following are some ahadith, which have been taken from Imam Nawawi’s Riyadhus Saliheen indicating the merciful nature of Allah (SWA).

Saaiduna Abu Hurairah Radiallahu Anhu reports that I heard the Prophet of Allah Sallallahu Alahi Wasalam saying: “By Allah, I seek Allah’s forgiveness and repent to Him more than seventy times a day.” (Sahih Bukhari).

Saaiduna Al-Agharr bin Yasar Al-Muzani Radiallahu Anhu narrated that: The Prophet of Allah Sallallahu Alahi Wasalam said: “Turn you people in repentance to Allah and beg pardon of  Him. I turn to Him in repentance a hundred times a day”.
(Sahih Muslim).

Saaiduna Anas bin Malik Radiallahu Anhu the servant of the Prophet of Allah narrated: The Prophet of Allah Sallallahu Alahi Wasalam said, “Verily, Allah is more delighted with the repentance of His slave than a person who lost his camel in a desert land and then finds it (unexpectedly)”. (Sahih Bukhari and Sahih Muslim).

Saaiduna Ibn Abbas Radiallahu Anhu says “if a person committed a sin or performed an evil deed from which he repented from, it is unlawful for anyone to call him with degrading names like thief or adulterer, etc…” (Maariful Quran p.134 v.8)

It should be borne in mind this thing happened before they got married, otherwise, if this incident happened when they were married then it would have been preferable for the husband to divorce her.

Saaiduna Ibn Abbas Radiallahu Anhu narrates that a man came to the Prophet of Allah Sallallahu Alahi Wasalam and said that his wife “does not move anyone’s hand from her” (indicating that whenever someone wants to commit adultery with her she commits it). The Prophet of Allah Sallallahu Alahi Wasalam replied, “Divorce her.” Then the man said, “I love her”, upon which the Prophet of Allah Sallallahu Alahi Wasalam said, “Then keep her”. (Mishkatul Masabeeh p.287 v.2)

The scholars of hadith have said that it is preferable to divorce an adulterous woman. However, if you love her and she has repented from her actions and is willing to change then you can keep her. (Mazahirul Haq p.179 v.4)

The best solution in this situation is that the husband should not divorce her and see how everything goes. It may be so that over time the husband may forget what his wife had done before and if Allah Wills He may put barakah and blessings in the marriage.

Only Allah Knows Best

Written by Mufti Mohammed Tosir Miah

Darul Ifta Birmingham