# Do converts have to redo their marriage after becoming Muslim?

*Non-Muslim marriages are valid in Islam*

- URL: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/c8fjy8mcezm/s/3/
- Date: 2019-05-10 · Kind: lesson · Transcript tier: machine · Recording: Can a Nikah with a Non-Muslim be valid? - Mufti Abu Layth Al-Maliki (8:57–15:25)
- Status: general teaching
- Watch from the start of the segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8fjy8MceZM&t=537s
- Recording page: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/c8fjy8mcezm/

**Topics:** The marriage contract; Converts and newcomers

**Summary (not a quotation; machine-made, unchecked):** No: a non-Muslim marriage valid by its own rules is valid in Islam, and converts were never asked to repeat their nikah. The Prophet's daughter Zaynab and her husband are an example.

**Checked position (checked by two independent reviews, not by the channel):** Mufti Abu Layth says that the nikah of non-Muslims, valid according to their own rules, is valid for Muslims too.

**Evidence, his words at 11:32:** “deduce from thee that the nikah of the non-muslims is valid” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8fjy8MceZM&t=692s)

## Longer summary

Mufti Abu Layth says all Muslims agree that a Muslim nikah has conditions such as offer, acceptance and witnesses or announcement, but the majority hold that non-Muslim marriages, valid by their own rules, are valid for Muslims too, so a Hindu or atheist couple must be honoured as a couple. He cites al-Sarakhsi [?] that non-Muslims who married without witnesses, guardian or mahr are not asked to repeat their nikah on becoming Muslim, and notes the Prophet never asked converts or whole tribes to do so. He compares this to how English courts recognise a marriage certificate from a sovereign state such as Pakistan for a divorce even if it would not meet UK rules. He adds the example of the Prophet's daughter Zaynab, whose husband Abu al-As was a mushrik in Makkah, who later joined her in Madinah under her protection and embraced Islam without their nikah being repeated.

## Sources and names cited

- nikah
- mahr
- al-Sarakhsi [?]
- Maliki school
- Hanafi school
- Zaynab, daughter of the Prophet
- Abu al-As ibn al-Rabi'

## Transcript (machine tier, 8:57–15:25)

[8:17] believe I don't know if this was somebody's messing around but he actually said it as within the contract of shagging the contract of shagging that's right so so don't be surprised that Google Translate in these things if they translate Nika as just sex because linguistically that's what kneecap means it just means that okay so I thought I'd just quote that because I just saw it today right but linguistically means this contract now all Muslims are in agreement that nicka

[8:56] for Muslims has certain conditions okay that you must accept you know you must offer they must accept there must be some witnesses or an announcement or something like this that's for Muslims what about non-muslim Nakata so majority of all Muslims accept that non-muslim nikka in their own in their own way or valid for us okay even though they are not Muslim but if they valid for them then they are valid for us for them so for example if a couple came and they

[9:35] said we are a couple so let's say a Hindu couple came or just a regular couple an atheist couple or anybody came and they said we're husband and wife well we're a couple we have to honor that that they are a couple we can't say oh well you know according to the conditions of my car they must be a mehar and they must have been two witnesses or announcement and did you do this or did you do that no none even if they did a secret marriage nobody knew anything but if it was okay according to them then Islam has to honor them according to their way of life that's

[10:15] all so you get scholars like Imam serach see clearly writes about that that even according to our mama Baha'i faces so even if non-muslims had got married without witnesses without guardian without mehar without everything but they got married and according to them it was fine Aladin him if they both became Muslim they are not asked to repeat their nikka right so the point here why did Muslim scholars discuss this point the point was that if people embraced Islam as a

[10:54] couple or as a family do we as Muslims ask them to repeat the Innoko and the answer is no we don't so in the time of the Prophet many people embraced Islam they were never asked to repeat the Innoko the Prophet never said oh you need to repeat any kind that ever and in fact people in cribes embraced Islam they were never asked that you need to repeat your new car so this is so just to be very clear on that okay now what does that mean what can we deduce from them where we can

[11:32] deduce from thee that the nikah of the non-muslims is valid so if it's according to them they rules whatever their rules are but according to them it's valid so just like in today so let's say in in contemporary law so let's say you get married in Pakistan now you're married in Pakistan now years later in the UK you decide to have a divorce now by the way many people don't know this I'll just answer these stuff

[12:11] if you get married in a country abroad and you come over here with your with your spouse you're not automatically registered by the way many people assume they are they're not right but so according to the kind of Register Office you won't be recognized as married however you can still apply for a divorce in this country now if you apply for a divorce you would have to provide a certificate of marriage which technically wouldn't work in this country because the rules and regulations would be different to this to when you conducted your marriage let's say in Pakistan they could have been different like let's say there was

[12:49] an age difference or let's say this was your second wife in Pakistan whereas in the UK you couldn't have a second wife or let's say this was what are trying to say is let's say violated a condition that would have applied here but if you wanted to conduct a divorce and you provided that certificate then the English courts under international treaties on recognizing that let's say Pakistan is a sovereign state would honor that certificate of marriage and say well okay okay according to that sovereign state therefore you can apply for divorce here so it works in a similar way in

[13:29] contemporary law now in Islamic law we work in a similar way and works in a similar way that had the resveratrol backup wife like like when the hard drive breaks down you got a backup right so my point is when people embrace Islam they're not being asked to repeat the Innoko that is majority outright overwhelming majority of orlimar of Islam have been on the of that understanding the Maliki method the Hanafi method most all most of these

[14:07] methods all recognize that look if they were Muslim they are not asked to repeat the Islam so the prophets daughter Zeynep when she had married I will Haas and as they he was a mushrik in Makkah when she came with the Prophet to Medina years later years people years later he came to Medina and they got back together they never repeated Anika and she actually offered him protection and she he came to see her and and to remember and then he embraced Islam he hadn't embraced Islam so and she's the

[14:47] one that actually said you know that he has kind of like and they had a system that somebody could offer protection and she said well he has my protection nobody should harm him and he wasn't harmed so there's a lot of different rulings people extract from that but the point is that the Anika was still valid and that's important to understand why that shows that even though they weren't Muslim even though the conditions were being met but then Nika was still a valid Nika how else do we know that this is is valid you see there's a hadith in

## Cite

Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment c8fjy8MceZM/s/3. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/c8fjy8mcezm/s/3/

Not a fatwa: these answers were given to specific people at specific times. Ask a qualified scholar about your own situation.