Fatwa ID: 01719

Answered by Mufti Mohammed Tosir Miah

Question:

Husband molested children before marriage.

 Answer:

There are two ways to look at your question. If your husband has said that he has repented from his previous actions then you should accept it and continue living with him. You should not fear staying with him.

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

• Saaiduna Abu Hurairah reports that I heard the Prophet of Allah 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 narrated that: The Prophet of Allah 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 the servant of the Prophet of Allah narrated: The Prophet of Allah 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 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)

You should do sabr and be patient and Insha Allah will make it easy for you. Here are a couple of ahadith talking about the virtues of sabr. Saaiduna Abu Yahya Suhaib Bin Sinan said that the Prophet of Allah said, “Wondrous are the believers affairs.  For him there is good in all his affairs, and this is so only for the believer.  When something pleasing happens to him, he is grateful, and that is good for him; and when something displeasing happens to him, he is doing sabr and that is good for him”.   (Sahih Muslim)

Saaiduna Anas Bin Malik narrates that the Prophet of Allah had sent for the Ansar and gathered them in a tent and said to them, “Be patient till you meet Allah and His Rasul, and I will be on the Lake of Al Kauthar”.   (Sahih Bukhari)

However, if you feel scared of your husband and fear that he may attack you and your children then you can ask for an annulment of your marriage by an Islamic Shari Committee.  One can cite danger of physical abuse to annul the marriage. Make contact:

Maulana Yaqub Qasmi
Dewsbury, UK
Home/Office: +44 (1924) 464523

An Islamic Shari Committee can annul a marriage if they have at least three just persons sitting therein.  They should all be knowledgeable and well versed in Shariah laws on marriage and divorce.  An annulment issued by such a committee is valid in the Shariah.   (The Complete System of Talaq p.211)

An annulment of marriage can be effected in any of the following situations:

1. The husband is missing completely
2. The husband is absent with no known whereabouts
3. The husband is incapable of maintaining his wife
4. The husband is unwilling to maintain his wife
5. The husband oppresses the wife such that he does not fulfil her rights
6. The husband is castrated
7. The husband is impotent
8. The husband is insane
9. The husband is afflicted with leprosy or any other illness which makes living with him difficult
10. The choice of an immature when he/she attains maturity
11. Husband or wife become apostate
12. Foster relationship which only becomes known after Nikah  

(The complete System of Divorce p.213)

Only Allah Knows Best

Mohammed Tosir Miah

Darul Ifta Birmingham.